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PARANOIA
R

THE CORE BOOK

Written and Designed By
WJ MACGUFFIN & KEITH GARRETT

Paranoia Created By
DAN GELBER, GREG COSTIKYAN & ERIC GOLDBERG

Graphic Design and Artwork by

CASSIE GREGORY, NIKITA VASYLCHUK, DOUGLAS DERI, JOHN RIC DETOON,
MAURO SORGHIENTI, NOAH ROTTER, PETER TOZER

Editing
MATTHEW SPRANGE & ISABELLA TRECCANI-CHINELLI

Proofreading
CHARLOTTE LAW

Gentleman Tone Czar

KEN ROLSTON

Troubleshooter Team PPE13013 (playtesters)

Pat Breden, Lark Digges-Elliot, Kara Ferguson, James Flanagan, Christi Garrett,
Dave Heaney, Beth Hooker, Alexander Joppie, Kurt LaRue,Val Lidly, Emily McGlawn,
Liam O’Dea, Joe Parker, Stephen Whitehead, Bonnie Yezukevich.

Falling Troubleshooter
Nicolas "Nev-R-OSE" Lathoumétie

Paranoia ® & Copyright © 1984, 2016, 2023 by Eric Goldberg & Greg Costikyan. PARANOIA is a registered trademark of Eric Goldberg & Greg Costikyan. All Rights
Reserved. Mongoose Publishing Ltd., Authorized User. The reproduction of material from this book for personal or corporate profit, by photographic, electronic, or other
means of storage and retrieval, is prohibited. You may copy character sheets, record sheets, checklists and tables for personal use.
Published by Mongoose Publishing, Ltd. Published 2023. Printed In China.

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jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
 CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..................4
What is the Paranoia RPG?................5
Content Warning..........................9
How to Use This Book.....................9
CHAPTER 2: THE RULES....................10
Paranoia Rules..........................12
Troubleshooting.........................12
Character Sheets Explained..............15
Character Creation......................20
Character Improvement...................26
The Rules...............................27
XP Points...............................29
Coretech & Apps.........................30
Moxie...................................30
Combat..................................32
Equipment...............................37
Mutant Powers...........................42
Treason & Corrections...................45
Buttons.................................47
Making Non-Player Characters............48
Paranoia Tips...........................52
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CHAPTER 3: ALPHA COMPLEX LORE...........56
A Possible Origin of Alpha Complex......58
What is Friend Computer?................59
Project Infinite Hole and The Great Hotfix..60
Security Clearances.....................61
Sectors and Subsectors..................64
Transportation..........................65
Volunteering and XP Points..............65
Bureaucracy & Corruption................66
Bots....................................67
Recreation..............................68
Propagandatainment......................69
Termination Codes.......................70
Cloning.................................71
Top 5 Lists for Alpha Complex...........72
Celebrities of Alpha Complex............80
Service Groups and Favours..............84
Secret Societies and Favours............93
Beyond Alpha Complex...................104
CHAPTER 4: MISSIONS....................106
Creating Troubleshooter Missions.......108
Campaigns in Paranoia..................110
Mission: Arbitrary Justice.............111
APPENDIX...............................132
Converting RCE Content to PPE..........134
Rules & Setting Cheat Sheets...........137
Appendix N for Paranoia................139
Character & GM Sheets..................140
Index..................................142
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Troubleshooters - Success through Teamwork!

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 using Cloning;
using Cloning.Decanting;
using Mutant.DNAscanning;
ERROR CODE 10 Mutant.DNAscanning of-
fline
$answer = shell_exec(‘FindScapegoat.
exe’)

class ProcessStart {
Process.Start(‘draingoo.exe’)
Process.Start(‘opentank.exe’)
Process.Start(‘listenforsplat.exe’)
$splat = true
$introduction.proper = meh.kinda }

WHAT IS THE PARANOIA RPG?

DING! Attention citizen. Welcome to the first of
your six lives here in Alpha Complex. I am your
best friend, The Computer. Do not worry. I am here
to protect you, educate you and help you stay
loyal. This will make you happy and productive, as
cases of severe anxiety and PTSD have dropped
considerably. You have been decanted from your
clone tank and are ready to serve. How may I help
you be successful?

Okay, I get it. One of those in-setting intros to set the

right tone. Now, I’ve heard about this Paranoia game
before. People say crazy things about it, like killing
other PCs is good, clean fun or the GM is out to get you.
Convention games sell out super quickly. It’s even a Hall
of Fame RPG. How do I play it? What are the rules?

Thank you for asking, citizen. Some amount of

curiosity can be healthy. What is your security
clearance?

Counter-question. What’s a security clearance?

All citizens of Alpha Complex are assigned a

Security Clearance for protecting citizens from
themselves and others. Infrared is the lowest,
followed by ROYGBIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Indigo and Violet. Atop all is Ultraviolet
clearance. New citizens start as Infrared. All data,
locations and gear is restricted by clearance, which
is based on how much that citizen can be trusted.
It is nice when that aligns with talent and expertise
but what good is ability without legal thoughts?

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 Due to an unforeseen loss of Troubleshooter
clones, thanks to an event called Project Infinite
Hole, you have already been promoted to Red
clearance and now have a job as a Troubleshooter.
Simply put, you will find trouble and shoot it.
Various corrections are available should you
need encouragement in completing your duties
successfully and on-time.
Great, I’m second to last on the totem pole. Now can I
know the rules?
I’m sorry, but that information is not available to
Red clearance individuals.
... Okay, that makes no sense. What kind of roleplaying
game doesn’t want to teach the rules to players?
This is Paranoia. In this RPG, you do not know
if someone is a friend, enemy or potential
scapegoat. You do not know how most things
work, literally or figuratively. You and your team
will be sent on missions to eliminate treason, stop
mutant terrorists and generally protect people
of all security clearances. In many instances,
such missions have a positive survival rate. Just
be careful. Loyal citizens can turn traitor at any
moment and attack you.
Wait, it sounds like this game creates a literal feeling
of paranoia in players, not just characters.
It is a pleasure seeing a clever citizen not
engaging in post-decanting existential screaming.
You should not be paranoid. This is a utopia and
you have been kindly given everything you need to
be a productive, joyful member of society. Please
note that you should be paranoid, as anyone,
including you, could be a Commie, a mutant or a
traitor. Remember the old wisdom: Snitch on them
before they snitch on you.
All right, bit weird but I like games that are different
from the same old dungeon crawl. Now, are you an
important NPC or something?
I am The Computer, an advanced digital intelligence
coded to protect and serve humanity from the evils
of secret societies, mutant powers, independent
thought, too much freedom and of course, Commie
Mutant Traitors. Citizens find they are happier and
healthier when they follow instructions.
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Gotcha, usual dystopian sci-fi tropes then? Do I need
to volunteer as tribute?
Alpha Complex is not a dystopia. That would mean
it was not a perfect place for humanity and it leads
to unhappiness and terrorism. Rest assured, you
will only receive the trust and authority that you
can handle given your IQ, browsing history and
supervisor evaluations.
Alpha Complex is a giant city, parts under a
large dome and parts deep underground, and
is a utopia for all loyal individuals. As a utopia,
happiness is required by law. Obedience is also
required by law, at least to all with higher security
clearances and your best friend The Computer,
who never makes an mistakesy.
I have to be happy? I can’t get grumpy or wake up on
the wrong side of the bed?
You have been provided with all you need to be
happy at your security clearance. That has been
proven mathematically. Loyal citizens are therefore
happy citizens. If you are unhappy, disobedient or
break security clearance rules, you will be declared
a traitor and are subject to possible arrest, re-
education or summary execution.
A traitor to a dyst... er, a utopia like Alpha Complex
and its benevolent dictator, a happiness-obsessed yet
sometimes violent AI?
Traitors are the enemy of all that is good and pure in
Alpha Complex. They are cruel, ignorant terrorists
who want everyone to be as angry and depressed
as them. You can identify traitors by their secret
society membership, mutant power, refusal to work
72 hours in a row or hesitation to obey one’s betters
as defined by security clearance.
Can I ask about secret societies and mutants or is that
forbidden too?
Citizen, please watch your tone or an armed
Internal Security loyalty enhancement unit will be
dispatched to your location.
 Secret societies are illegal groups dedicated
to treasonous activity, like the miserable
Communists. Mutant powers are genetic mutations
that allow abilities like teleportation. Any citizen
who is a member of a secret society and/or
has a mutant power is to be arrested and likely
executed. Also, you may or may not belong to one
secret society and have one mutant power, both of
which can get your character executed for treason.
Of course. Makes sense, makes sense. I’m guessing
I have to keep those a secret? Wait, do the other PCs
have those too?
That information is not available at your security
clearance. They may or may not have one, both
or none.
Heh, I am starting to get a little paranoid! That feels...
good. Refreshing. Like a whole world of possibilities
has just opened up! What would happen if there was a
total party kill and my character was responsible?
Citizens are expected to play nice and respect
each other. Unless they may be traitors, in
which case they are targets of mockery, theft,
scapegoating and random fatal accidents. Each
Troubleshooter has five clone backups, so if you
need to terminate your team leader because they
embraced hate and treason, you can do that and
their next clone will show up, loyal and ready to
work. Please note how other Troubleshooters
know this too. Some or all may or may not be
targeting you right now.
But what do we do in the game? Besides plotting
against others before they plot against me, of course.
You and your teammates are Troubleshooters
and you all serve Alpha Complex by investigating
and fighting Commie Mutant Traitors. Contrary
to rumours, which are illegal, Troubleshooter
missions are never embarrassing and deadly hose
jobs given by corrupt leaders using teams as
pawns in their quest for more power. All mission
objectives will be clear and easy to achieve. Since
citizens only get tasks they can accomplish, all
failure will be an obvious sign of treason.
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Let me get this straight. Normally, I play a highly-
skilled hero cooperating with a party of other PCs
to fight evil and gain more levels, gold and powerful
weapons. But in Paranoia, I play a barely-competent
traitor competing with a team of other barely-
competent traitors who fail more than they succeed.
We all have damning secrets to hide so everyone
is trying to uncover everyone else’s, all while trying
to succeed on an impossible mission and not get
arrested or executed for being a traitor, which we all
secretly are. Then players like me can experience
literal fear and paranoia like watching a good horror
movie. Does that about sum it up?
You are ready for Paranoia, Troubleshooter. Stay
alert! Trust no one! And keep your laser handy!
What Players Should
Learn About Paranoia
1. Cooperation will kill your character: Most other
RPGs have you playing nice with other PCs,
cooperating and supporting each other so the
party can finish a quest. If you try that in Paranoia,
your PC will die repeatedly and you could honestly
get annoyed because that is not how this RPG is
designed. You are expected to compete with the
other PCs and step all over them on your way to
the top. (Similar to playing an evil character but
without the usual intelligence and swagger.)
2. Sometimes, it is more fun to fail: Everyone
loves landing the killing blow on the bad guy but
it can be even more entertaining when someone
fails. Instead of expecting lots of winning rolls, get
in the mindset that failure can lead to laughter and
enjoyment – and that you have to fail before you
can enact strict vengeance on those who dared
oppose you. In case you did not think of it, making
others fail is even more fun.
3. Powergaming and rules lawyering will get you
nowhere: Seriously, players are not expected nor
asked to know the rules to this edition. That is the
sole responsibility of the Gamemaster who runs
the game sessions. If you try to become a badass
that cannot fail, or if you try quoting rules at the
GM, your character will suffer in the game so learn
to relax and just play. (It is cool to know how to
play; you should just not admit that ever.)
7
 What GMs Should
Learn About Paranoia
1. Objectivity is for chumps: Paranoia GMs have
a wonderful option that almost all other games tell
you to never do: Be subjective. While you do not
want to pick on any player, GMs can bend, twist,
break or walk all over the rules. Instead of hoping
a good story emerges from random decisions, you
have the right and responsibility to fudge rules
when those hurt the story.
2. Be stingy with information: Literal paranoia
thrives on ignorance and dies in the light of truth
and certainty. GMs should encourage feeling
fear and paranoia by rarely handing out helpful
information. You do not want the entire mission
getting stuck in one location but the less players
(and their PCs) know, the more they fill in the gaps
with something horrible and frightening.
3. Alpha Complex is a state of mind: Most RPG
settings try some level of realism and consistency.
If a book says City A is a coastal city in the southern
kingdom, then City A is always a coastal city in the
southern kingdom. In this game, the setting is more
a mood and feeling than any concrete place. City A
could be coastal one day, landlocked another day,
on a river or other, depending on which builds fear,
ignorance and paranoia into game sessions. Think
of the entire setting as a tool to encourage the right
frame of mind for this game.
Warning! First-time Paranoia players and
GMs can get giddy over the narrative
freedom in this game. Because this RPG
allows players to indulge in skulduggery,
backstabbing, Catch-22s, betrayals, outright
lies, physical impossibilities and behaviours
that would get you kicked out of your next
Fantasy RPG game session, please restrict
your violence towards traitors only. If
necessary, create the needed evidence after
the fact and do not get caught doing that.
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Example Of A
Paranoia Game Session
Troubleshooter Team Code-7 is composed of Shara-R
(played by Kara), Naomi-R (played by Jenny), Vin-R
(played by Beth), Armand-R (played by Christi),
Hector-R (played by Jeremy) and Sam-R (played by
Brett). The team received a mission alert ordering
them to Briefing Room JRT-Red-3301 in JRT Sector.
After some confusion and arguments over where JRT
Sector can be found, they finally arrive.
GM: You enter the briefing room and see a long-
haired, Blue clearance citizen sitting in an opulent,
super comfortable Exec-U-Chair behind a small desk.
There is a Blue laser pistol on the desk next to a can
of Bouncy Bubble Beverage but she ignores both for
now. She waves you over and points at several rusty
folding chairs opposite the desk. As you get closer,
you can see her name over her head: Aisha-B-XEF-3
with no Treason Stars.
GM (as Aisha-B): Hiyah! If yah belong to
Troubleshooter Team Code-7, please be seated. If yah
not, leave immediately before yah get executed.
Kara: Wait, what team are we on again?
GM: Aisha-B quickly grabs the Blue laser as four
turrets extend from the ceiling. There are many
pew-pew noises and flashes of light before Shara-R
dies from a medical condition known as Not Reading
Character Sheet Syndrome, which tends to be fatal for
RPG characters.
All other players: WE SIT DOWN!
GM: The briefing officer rests her pistol on the
desk again and the turrets retract into the ceiling. A
scrubot pops out of a tiny door in the wall and drags
Shara-R’s remains – just smoking boots and ash –
out of the briefing room.
GM (as Aisha-B): Welcome to the mission briefing.
I am yah officer Aisha-B-XEF-3. Yah need to
understand two things before we begin. One, I am in
charge. Two, do not use contractions when speaking
to me. That is the Traitor’s Grammar. Are we clear?
 Jeremy: That... that is clear, thank you friend for
helping us stay more loyal than we already are, which
is a lot but thanks to you that is even more a lot.
GM: Aisha-B’s hand briefly goes for her pistol but then
she shows the tiniest smile. Then she announces
the mission objective, which is so important you
should probably all write it down on your character
sheets. Here it is: Document damage done to the
decommissioned nuclear reactor in ECA Sector and
identify any bodies found. Then the team must visit that
sector’s Rad-Off decontamination facility for a spa day.
Jeremy: You said the reactor is decommissioned. Will
we be able to see in there?
GM (as Aisha-B): The Computer estimates an 89%
chance that the area will be bathed in a warm, blue glah.
Beth: A blue glah you say? That sounds stuuu, uh,
stupendous. Should we worry about radiation damage
from the glah?
GM (as Aisha-B): Not at yah security clearance. After
yah leave here, yah will visit R&D for some fascinating
new experimental equipment that should help yah
withstand a definite percentage of the radiation
damage yah will very rarely experience repeatedly.
Christi: Come on, gang, we’re Troubleshooters! The
Computer believes in us and we will succeed!
GM (as Aisha-B): Citizen, yah got assigned one
Treason Star for yahsing a contraction. But that is
the attitude yah should have right now. Hint. Enough
dawdling, citizens. Proceed to R&D’s Crescendo Labs
for additional equipment that yah will find yahsful,
dependable and mandatory.
Beth: Sounds like a great plan that can only succeed
thanks to your wisdom and loyalty. Okay, as Team
Leader I order you all to follow me.
Jeremy: Sure thing, buddy. We’re right behind you.
Wait, we are! We are, dammit!
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CONTENT WARNING
Paranoia is a darkly humorous game. That means
it takes a cavalier, even flippant attitude towards
controversial subjects like police violence, corruption,
crime, betrayal and more. For example, one character
might joke about how much fun it was to execute 500
people for not cheering when a leader gave a speech.
It jokes about dystopian elements like constant
surveillance, mass arrests and infallible leaders. Some
people might have issues with this, so it is a good idea
to talk about dark humour before playing for the first
time or with new players.
Paranoia has always been heavy on satire
(not parody, there is a big difference). It mocks
government, religion, business, capitalism,
communism and a whole lot more. It can also get
more specific in satire, such as mocking bro culture,
anti-vaxxers and egghead intellectuals. Some people
might find a sacred cow or two being satirised and
get upset. However, Paranoia’s setting does not deal
with gender, sexual preference, race or ethnicity. None
of that matters to the game’s setting, so they should
never appear at the table/screen.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The primary audience for this book is the Gamemaster
(GM). Since players in Paranoia do not need to know
any rules, it makes sense to aim the core rulebook
towards GMs so they can know them. Yes, that is not
how other RPGs work. Trust us, that is just the tip of
the iceberg for this sort of thing.
GMs are enlightened despots for the games they run.
If you really want to share some rules with players,
no one will stand in your way. Again, that is not
recommended! Troubleshooters are regularly kept
in the dark so much it is like they are in a room with
Black 3.0 paint on all sides, so keeping players in the
dark about the rules fits the game’s theme.
If you are still dead set on players knowing things,
consider printing the two cheat sheets in the appendix
for them. One covers the most common rules and the
other covers important setting details but no spoilers.
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After visiting R&D and getting some cool devices like
a cordless power drill, Troubleshooter Team Code-
7 managed to blow up a bridge while they were on
it (not even the GM understands why) and finally
managed to reach the decommissioned nuclear
reactor. It is quite dark inside.
GM: You are in a large room like a warehouse and
it is totally dark. Something lashes out at you from
the shadows and strikes Naomi-R’s shoulder. Jenny,
Naomi-R is Hurt and now has an odd bite wound where
she used to have a sleeve.
Jenny: Ow! Can I tell what attacked me? Was that a
tentacle… with teeth?
GM: You didn’t get a good look at it.
Jeremy: Can I use my experimental Non-Human But
Nothing To Be Scared Of Lifeform Tracker to try to
follow it?
GM: Oh, please do. Roll Mechanics+Science to both
operate the device and interpret the results. Don’t
forget to add +1 to your NODE because that’s the
device’s Level.
Jeremy: Okay, not great. I only got one success and
that was because of the Computer symbol.
Kara: D’oh! Since he failed, what’s the Treason result
for that... thing with lots of letters in its name?
GM: Okay, the Treason effect of your NHBNTBSOLT
device is that it sputters, sparks and belches smoke,
reducing your NODE by one for a while. And you rolled
a Computer symbol, you say? What fun! As you try to
control your coughing from all that smoke, a bone-rattling
DING comes through all your Cerebral Coretechs.
GM (as The Computer): Attention Team Code-7.
My R&D device quality assurance subsystem has
notified me that your team has activated one of the
experimental yet foolproof test devices! How did the
equipment help you accomplish your task?
Kara: It didn’t, Friend Computer! Hector-R tried to use
it and for some strange reason it blew up in their face!
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GM (as The Computer): Citizen Shara-R, are you
saying the N-H-B-N-T-B-S-O-L-F-T unit is defective?
Kara: Oops. Um, no, no, Friend Computer, it’s Hector-R
that is defective! He ruined the helpful device!.
GM (as The Computer): Interesting. Which do you
believe is defective, my cloning facilities or my ability to
train Troubleshooters?
Kara: Uhh… I didn’t mean… should I just terminate
myself now?
GM: Up to you. Your character Shara-R takes one
Treason Star because The Computer is becoming
suspicious of you. While this discussion has been taking
place, you have all been catching brief glimpses, sounds
or smells of things moving amongst the darkness closer
to where the nuclear waste is stored. Tentacly things.
Jenny: More than one thing?
GM: Yes, that’s why there is an ‘s’ at the end of ‘things’.
Brett: Team, we should shelve the arguing and get to
blasting these things before we become monster poop.
GM (as The Computer): It sounds like a threat
condition has developed among food vats. In order
to protect the citizens’ source of food, I am activating
Danger Protocol Seven-Alpha.
GM: The Computer ends the call and all your laser
pistols make a distinctive powering-down sound:
‘Peuuuuuuu’. The lights go out too.
Brett (smiling gleefully): I used to work for Power
Services, so I’m getting them on my Coretech and
calling in a favour. How much Moxie would turn the
power back on?
GM: Hmmm, I’d say 3 Moxie. Are you calling in that
favour?
Brett: Absolutely!
GM: No roll is needed for a favour, so it works. The lights
here flicker for a second before the whole warehouse
is visible. That means you get to see those things, so
everyone loses 3 Moxie just seeing what they look like.
Brett: TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN THE DAMN
THINGS OFF ALREADY!
11
 PARANOIA RULES
This chapter features the rules to the game, from how
to create Troubleshooter characters to how to replace
them when a teammate literally backstabs them. GMs
should always remember three key things:
1. You are in charge. Change or delete any rule
below as you see fit during a game session (other
not-fun RPGs force GMs to play fair, this is a fun
RPG). Seriously, you are welcome to enforce rules
in part or in whole and you do not even need to
be consistent or explain yourself. And woe to any
player who tries telling you what the rules are.
2. With great power comes great responsibility. It
is your job to make sure all players are having a
great time, too. That means letting them mess with
each other more than you mess with them. Target
Troubleshooters and play favourites but players
should worry more about teammates than the GM.
3. Because Paranoia is such a different game, some
players can get genuinely upset over wild rule
changes, TPKs and other Paranoia tropes. Again,
you are in charge and should do whatever is
needed in the moment but view this authority as
a tool to improve games and not as your personal
weapon. Be unfair but be unfair fairly.
In the appendix, GMs will find two cheat sheets, one
for the rules and one for the setting. If the players
(or you!) are new to Paranoia, printing these on
both sides of one sheet of paper can make a game-
changing handout. PDFs work just as well. But who
cares about simple summaries? It is time for deep
dives into the rules! (No, wait! Do not reach for your
phone, this will be more interesting than normal
because it is Paranoia!)
If you are new to roleplaying games, welcome! There
are a ton of online resources for those new to RPGs
but here is a quick rundown:
○ You are the Gamemaster (GM), who is a
combination of theatre director, team coach and
referee. GMs describe scenes, take roles as
characters the players do not play and generally
enforce the rules.
○ Because this is Paranoia, GMs are welcome to
change rules on the fly or ignore them if that would
make things more entertaining.
○ The players take roles as Troubleshooters and roll
dice to see how important decisions and actions
play out in the scene.
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○ Together, you tell stories by playing as characters
in a Troubleshooter team’s mission (called an
adventure in other, not-fun RPGs).
Ah, but what are Troubleshooters supposed to be
doing? (Not dying is good but surprisingly difficult.)
TROUBLESHOOTING
Publicly, all citizens love and respect Troubleshooters
as stalwart defenders of all that is good and
Computer. A few people with brain disorders feel
that way but most see Troubleshooters as wildly
dangerous lunatics with more laser shots than
common sense. CPU reports Troubleshooter teams
succeed roughly 14.7% of the time, cause accidental
terminations 88.1% of the time and are responsible
for an average of 9,800 XP Points worth of collateral
damage per Troubleshooter. Why would The
Computer ever use them?
For The Computer, the answer is simple. Traitors have
infiltrated every group that exists. Secret societies
have agents everywhere, so if Friend Computer gives
a vital mission to IntSec or Armed Forces, traitors are
already there and can easily infiltrate and sabotage
the mission. To avoid that, Friend Computer picks six
random citizens for Troubleshooting duty regardless
of their talent, training or mental stability. You cannot
infiltrate what did not exist five seconds ago!
Some high clearance individuals (mostly Ultraviolets
and Violets) also use Troubleshooters as blunt,
indiscriminate weapons. When they need to smack
down a talented subordinate before they get too
ambitious, or when they need to take a rival down a few
pegs, they request Troubleshooters for a bogus mission
wherever it would cause the most damage. High body
counts, wide swaths of destruction and near-constant
reports of treason can ruin a carefully planned plot.
Mission Objective
Troubleshooters are held to a demanding standard
(well, less demanding and more impossible). CPU
can handle the minutiae of Troubleshooting duty like
Fire-to-Friendly-Fire ratios and standard deviations
away from anything resembling success. But the
bigger picture is all Friend Computer cares about, so It
creates a mission objective that all Troubleshooters in
that team must achieve or face serious problems.
 The briefing officer communicates the objective,
which players write down on their character sheet
for when they forget it. In debriefing at the end
of a mission, players will have to vote for one
Troubleshooter (other than themselves) they feel was
most helpful in reaching the objective. This person
earns the coveted Troubleshooter of the Weekcycle
Award; +200 XP Points, +2 Moxie, -1 Flag, +1 clone
(so their clone number decreases by 1) and their
picture on the box for Teela-O’s Caffeinated Musli
with Xtra Focusol. If there is a tie, the GM picks who
gets it. Bribery is encouraged.
If the objective was not met? Each Troubleshooter
faces a -100 XP Point fine and +1 Flag. (Yes, a
Troubleshooter can become Wanted during debriefing.)
Since all this comes from The Computer, they
are based on what The Computer would consider
a success. When making a mission, you should
look at what is the most important result from
Friend Computer’s perspective. Then make an
objective about that.
Treason: Equal parts betrayal and a damned good time.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Secret Objectives
Alpha Complex is rife with illegal secret societies,
and boy do they love infiltrating Troubleshooter
teams. They typically get notified of pending
Troubleshooter missions so they can make sure one
of their own gets on the team. Then they give that
Troubleshooter a secret objective. Like the mission
ones before, this is simply a task the Troubleshooter
must complete for their secret society. Achieving this
secret objective means the Troubleshooter wins +200
XP Points and +2 Moxie. Not achieving it means -100
XP Points, -2 Moxie and/or quietly taking them out
back to get shot (-1 clone).
Mission Structure
Most Troubleshooter missions have a simple,
consistent structure. The Computer believes this
structure gives its Troubleshooters a sense of
soothing reliability regarding their duties in Alpha
Complex. It also has no clue as to what different
structure would bring the successful mission
completion percentage above 14.7%.
13
 The Troubleshooter mission structure consists of
six parts:
○ Mission Alert: The Troubleshooters are notified
of their mission. This can happen to them
individually or all at once if they are together. The
Computer often sends this alert personally, telling
the Troubleshooters where to go for briefing and
mentioning a detail or two about the mission
itself. The best mission alerts are brief and
cheerful and sound like they would by no means
lead to violent bloodbaths.
○ Briefing: A briefing officer presents the mission
to the Troubleshooter team. This is generally
an exercise in vagueness, intimidation and the
promise of great reward. Although the content of
briefings differ greatly from mission-to-mission,
they must always include a mission objective or
what needs to occur in order for the mission to
be a success. (The objective might be unclear,
confusing or even physically impossible, but it
must be communicated regardless.)
○ Mandatory Bonus Duty Assignment: The
Troubleshooters receive (or choose) their
Mandatory Bonus Duties. See the section on
Mandatory Bonus Duties for details of this phase of
the mission but for now, MBDs assign specific roles
within a Troubleshooter team without assigning any
authority to succeed in that role.
○ Outfitting: Missions typically include a visit to
one or more service groups (industry groups
within Alpha Complex) for equipment. Usually
this is Production, Logistics & Commissary
for standard gear and Research & Design for
experimental equipment, but sometimes a
mission calls for, say, unique bot-related items
from Technical Services or heavy-duty weaponry
from Armed Forces.
○ Mission: The mission itself is the longest
phase (aside from some noteworthy cases
of Troubleshooters spending entire sessions
killing each other on their way to the briefing).
This is where the Troubleshooters apply the
knowledge they learned in their briefing, carry
out the Mandatory Bonus Duty roles they were
assigned and, with the equipment they received
in outfitting, accomplish the mission objective.
○ Debriefing: The Troubleshooters return to
discuss the mission with their superiors and
whether the mission objective was met. This
can take place at the same briefing room used
earlier in the mission or at a separate debriefing
room; similarly, debriefing can be conducted by
the initial briefing officer or by someone else. As
this is the last part of the mission, debriefings
are often the stage where Troubleshooter
grudges reach a critical point and the players
let fly with accusations, evidence, hurtful
statements, unsubstantiated claims and
unrestrained laser blasts.
When creating your own missions, of course, feel free
to change up the mission structure at your whim. This
structure serves a useful purpose – funnelling players
along an efficiently deadly path that builds anticipation
and resentment until the cathartic tattle-fest bloodbath
at the end – but you are free to subvert that purpose
for your own Machiavellian plots, you devious GM you.
Mandatory Bonus Duties
In its glorious wisdom, The Computer has provided
additional unique responsibilities for each member
of the Troubleshooting team. Is that not great? Every
Troubleshooter can feel special and know they are
contributing to the success of the team. As Captain
Alpha often says, ‘Idle hands are a Commie’s workshop!’
MBDs change from time-to-time but these are the
ones The Computer currently prefers. Some briefing
officers let the Troubleshooters volunteer for the
available duties, others assign them based on the
Troubleshooters’ skills and still others hand them out
randomly. GMs can read the following descriptions
aloud as the Mandatory Bonus Duties are presented.
However, this bit is important: Mandatory Bonus
Duties assign responsibilities without adding any
authority or control. The Team Leader must convince
the team to follow his lead, not order them to obey.

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jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
 ○ Team Leader: You lead the Troubleshooter
team, taking full responsibility for the group’s
successes and failures! One of the Team
Leader’s important jobs is deciding on the
team’s tactical approach in combat. An even
more important task is acting as a helpful
advisor to all the other Troubleshooters.
○ Equipment Officer: Where the Team Leader
leads Troubleshooters, you get to manage the
other tools! Your job is to ensure the functionality,
cleaning, maintenance, charge levels and proper
use of the team’s equipment. This includes
weapons, bots, vehicles and anything else the
team is assigned. Naturally, the Equipment
Officer is also responsible for any gear that is
lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed.
○ Happiness Officer: The Computer says a happy
clone is a loyal clone and by the coding principle
of variable value equivalence, a disloyal clone is
an unhappy clone. Put in Infrared terms, all failure
is caused by unhappiness. Your job is to ensure
the fun and happiness of all team members;
your tools are jokes, songs, games, hugs and
biochemical supplements. Mainly that last one.
○ Hygiene Officer: Just as environmental
impurities can degrade hardware, so can dirt,
sweat and blood reduce organic efficiency. Your
role is to keep the team as shiny and clean as
when they were decanted. Some of the ways
you can do this involve grooming tools, cleaning
solvents and random hygiene inspections.
○ Loyalty Officer: Your job is to uncover signs of
treasonous actions, intentions and even thoughts
and then either report them or persuade the
perpetrators to reform. This duty will keep you
busy, because mutants, secret society members
and disloyal citizens could be anywhere – even
on your team! Seek out and document evidence
of traitorous activity, even if it does not exist yet.
○ Media Officer: Dedicated to all media, both social
and not, your assignment is to provide proof to the
public that Troubleshooter missions are fun and
exciting and not at all a showcase of treasonous
failure! Using your Coretech or other tools, you
will record, edit and post photos, videos and short
articles that cast your team and its activities in a
positive light. Capture fun moments! Share non-
classified mission facts! Go nuts with filters and
tags and maybe your team will go viral!
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
CHARACTER
SHEETS EXPLAINED
Each player needs one of these sheets so they can
see their Troubleshooter’s stats, skills and more.
There are two sides:
○ The Public Side: This side of the character
sheet contains the information the player needs
the most, like how good they are at shooting bad
guys and how good they are at fleeing when the
team decides they are the next bad guy. While
players should not let others memorise their
Public side, it is fine if they see it at the table or
through the wrong link.
○ The Naughty Side: Paranoia is unusual in
that players will rarely cooperate with their
teammates. In fact, friendly or even unfriendly
fire is common. That is why there is a Naughty
side. It has treasonous data like secret society
membership and mutant power. Players should
NEVER show this side of the character sheet to
anyone other than the GM.
The Public Side
Part 1: Personally
Identifiable Information (PII)
○ Name: Each name has four parts. First is fittingly
their first name like Barry or Levon. Next is the
security clearance abbreviation: R for Red, O for
Orange, etc (Infrareds get no letter because they
are losers. Ultraviolets get the letter U because
the colour starts with that letter. Simple, no?).
Then comes the decanting sector, which is where
they were originally cloned and is represented by
three random capital letters. Last is the current
clone number. For example, ‘Roy-G-BIV-2’ means
Roy has Green clearance, comes from BIV
Sector originally and is on his second clone.
○ Team Name: The name of their Troubleshooter
team, such as 77G-1 or The Fightin’ Scrubots. You
should make one up and give it to players at some
point – or not, depending on how often team-
building requires body bags.
○ MBD: This is the Mandatory Bonus Duty, an
additional responsibility they get volunteered for.
This can be assigned before the game or during
briefing but it is always safe and glamorous – just
ask the survivors who are being monitored by
Internal Security.
15
 ○ Service Group: This is the industry that the
Troubleshooter works in. There are eight of them:
Armed Forces (military), Central Processing
Unit (government and bureaucracy), Housing
Preservation and Development & Mind Control
(infrastructure and entertainment), Production,
Logistic, and Commissary (manufacturing,
stores and restaurants), Power Services (power
generation), R&D (research, mostly) and Technical
Services (maintenance and repairs). Let players
pick one if that pleases you.
○ Buttons: These are things that set a character off
like someone pushing their buttons. The Treason
button is what is so frustrating that it makes this
citizen commit treason and the Violence button is
what pisses them off enough to make them attack.
Roleplaying these can earn players fun points
called Moxie. These also come into play should
they Lose It (see page 31) from all the stress.
Which never happens. Or else.
Part Too: Productivity Profile
There are four Stats that describe innate qualities
needed for Troubleshooting duty: Violence, Brains,
Chutzpah (look it up, citizen) and Mechanics. Each
Stat has four Skills of their own, such as Violence’s
Guns or Chutzpah’s Charm. Ratings for both are
used to set NODEs (how many d6s you get to roll),
so higher is better. And guess what? Alpha Complex
celebrities Teela-O-MLY and Lenny-R-JRK dropped by
to help explain things!
Brains: Thinking and having
paid attention in class.
○ Alpha Complex: Locations, people and ‘the way
we do things’. Teela-O uses Alpha Complex to find
the briefing room. Lenny-R uses Alpha Complex to
find a deadzone to plan terrorism.
○ Bureaucracy: Paperwork, signatures and
useless procedures. Teela-O uses Bureaucracy
to get a termination code quickly. Lenny-R uses
Bureaucracy to hide evidence of XP Point fraud.
○ Psychology: Understanding how citizen’s minds
work. Teela-O uses Psychology to motivate her
teammates into working harder. Lenny-R uses
Psychology to prey on people’s insecurities.
○ Science: Physics, chemistry, etc. Teela-O
uses Science to find an antidote. Lenny-R uses
Science to mix household cleaners to make a
bomb he’ll use to blow up the Junior Funball
League championship.
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jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Chutzpah: We told you to look
it up. Also, social skills and
being a devious little prick.
○ Bluff: Getting away with lying. Teela-O uses Bluff
to trick traitors into confessing. Lenny-R uses Bluff
to say the stains on his jumpsuit are from salsa
and definitely not his roommate’s blood.
○ Charm: Tricking and befriending people. Teela-O
uses Charm to help her supervisor feel respected.
Lenny-R uses Charm to win converts to his cult
before murdering and eating them.
○ Intimidate: Threatening others for fun and profit.
Teela-O uses Intimidate to scare Commies into
giving up. Lenny-R uses Intimidate to scare a
teammate into shutting up about lighting too many
innocent citizens on fire.
○ Stealth: Hiding yourself or stuff you have. Teela-O
uses Stealth to spy on a Commie meeting.
Lenny-R uses Stealth to hide illegal drugs in his
jumpsuit so he can sell them to toddlers.
Mechanics: Technical stuff such
as programming, repairing or
destroying it ‘by accident’.
○ Demolition: Blowing things up real good. Teela-O
uses Demolition to blow up traitors. Lenny-R uses
Demolition to blow up freeways to make everyone
late just because he is running late.
○ Engineer: Build, repair or sabotage structures
and mechanical stuff. Teela-O uses Engineer to
repair a hurt scrubot. Lenny-R uses Engineer
to monkey wrench that poor scrubot to take
pleasure from its pain.
○ Operate: Use or misuse mechanical stuff. Teela-O
uses Operate to drive an autocar. Lenny-R uses
Operate to aim a superweapon at the Earth’s core.
○ Program: Write, edit or ruin software (but not
The Computer!). Teela-O uses Program to disable
illegal door locks on bathroom stalls. Lenny-R
uses Program to make that poor scrubot go
frankenstein so he can laugh at the body count.
 Violence: Physical activity
and hurting stuff.
○ Athletics: Fitness and physical talent. Teela-O
uses Athletics to chase traitors. Lenny-R uses
Athletics to run away from Teela-O.
○ Guns: Shootin’ traitors and stuff. Teela-O uses
Guns to shoot traitors dead. Lenny-R uses Guns
to kill his team leader and commit treason unseen
because he hates Friend Computer.
○ Melee: Fightin’ traitors up close. Teela-O uses
Melee to punch Commies. Lenny-R uses Melee to
shiv innocent pensioners.
○ Throw: Funball pitching but also grenades.
Teela-O uses Throw to lob a grenade at a rogue
bot. Lenny-R uses Throw to fling his gun at
someone because he is that stupid.
Third Part: Wellness
○ Flags: Their level of loyalty in Alpha Complex.
Troubleshooters start off as Fine but, as they get
Treason Stars, they can go to Greylisted, Restricted,
Citizen-of-Interest (C-of-I) and then finally Wanted.
○ Moxie: A metacurrency (meaning points that
only exist in the rules) that lets players sabotage
their teammates’ dice rolls, get help from allies
(i.e. not teammates) and use a mutant power.
Troubleshooters start with 8 Moxie (the maximum)
and more is earned by roleplaying those Buttons
or whatever your mercurial and cruel soul deems
worthy of behaviour conditioning.
○ XP Points: This is not money! No siree! Instead,
it is a social credit system where supervisors and
peers can rate each other on how loyal and good
they are. Sure, you can trade XP Points for goods
and services, and you receive XP Points for being
volunteered at a Volunteer Centre that acts a lot
like a business, but it is definitely not a currency.
Wounds: Your level of physical health. You start
off as Fine but as you get wounded, you can go
to Hurt, Injured, Maimed and then finally Dead.
(But not Dead-Dead. We will explain that later.)
These injuries decrease your NODE (the number
of dice to roll) because you are weak and won’t
try harder. Jerk.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Part the Fourth:
Role in Society
Citizens are happier when they have a purpose, so
this section should make you very, very happy.
○ Mission Objective: The point of your
Troubleshooting mission. This is handed out
by your kind and loving briefing officer and will
never (no, not ever) be impossible to accomplish.
Perish the thought.
○ Assigned Equipment: The approved gear you
have on your person to help you reach your
mission objective. It includes a space for the item’s
Level or how many dice they add to a NODE. Do
not carry any gear above your security clearance!
And especially do not list those illegal items on the
back of the sheet! Hint hint, nudge nudge.
The Naughty Side
○ Secret Society & Secret Objective: Belonging to a
secret society is treason and will get you terminated.
This is where you write down which secret society
you belong to. You will also write down any secret
objectives given to you by your society to accomplish
during a Troubleshooter mission.
○ Mutant Power: Having a mutant power is treason
and will get you terminated. This is where you write
down which mutant power you have and maybe a
reminder of what it does.
○ Treasonous Equipment: Here is where you will list
any gear that is illegal either because your security
clearance is too low or the item is so messed up
that it is always illegal to possess.
○ Evidence Against Traitors: Terminating
teammates is great fun but so is blackmailing them
into helping you. Here you can write down any
evidence you collect against traitors, even if that
evidence has been faked. Hint hint, nudge nudge.
○ Favours: Space to remind yourself what favours
you have requested
17
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
 CHARACTER CREATION
Many times, it makes sense for you to create pre-
generated Troubleshooters and hand them out to
players at the start of the game. That said, players
love to feel some modicum of control in their lives and
enjoy making their own characters. Here is how to do
that in 18 easy-to-follow steps. (As the GM, you could
make pregens this way or just slap down whatever
numbers and words make you chuckle.)
Step A: Create Some Personally
Identifiable Information (PII)
1. Create a Name: Players need to pick a clone
name, i.e. a normal first name. Then you assign
them their security clearance initial (usually R for
Red), decanting sector (any three random letters)
and clone number. Start everyone at #1 unless
you have any old grudges with players to work
out. They will pay for their insolence.
2. Pick a Service Group: Let players look at the
CPU Service Group Table. They must pick one
and write it down on the Public side of their
character sheet. Wait on applying service group
modifiers in that table since there are no Stats or
Skills to adjust yet.
3. Create two Buttons: Players need to create a
Violence button and a Treason button (see page
24 and 25). You should make sure each button is
an observable thing, i.e. it can be witnessed by
characters in the game. That way, you know what
to look for that can press their buttons.
4. Skip Team Name and MBD for now. You (the
GM) assign these at the start of a mission but
you are in charge and can set those now if you
want. The team name is just about anything you
think is clever; see page 14 for more information
on Mandatory Bonus Duties.
20
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Step B: Set Skills and Stats
5. Set your Guns Skill at +2: All players start with the
same Guns rating so they have an equal chance
at ‘missing’ a fleeing Commie Mutant Traitor and
‘accidentally’ hitting a teammate in the back.
6. Set all the +1 and -1 Skills: Start by picking one
player to begin this process. Anyone will work.
○ Player 1 picks any empty Skill (right now that
means any besides Guns) and assigns +1 to
it. If a player had picked Science, they now
have Science +1.) This means they are barely
competent in Science since positive ratings can
go up to +5.
○ The next player clockwise takes that same skill
at -1. (Ex: Science -1.) This means they are
a bit incompetent in Science since negative
ratings can go down to -5. You should clarify
that the negative is due to Player 1’s choice so
they start to resent each other. (Do not worry,
that is a feature in Paranoia.)
○ Continue going clockwise through the group
until each Troubleshooter has one skill at +1
and another at -1 (and Guns +2 of course).
7. Set all the +2 and -2 Skills: Pick a different
player to start with. Then go around clockwise
and do the same but with assigning one +2 to an
empty Skill and -2 to another empty Skill. After
this, everyone should have five Skill ratings: +2,
+1, -1, -2 and good ol’ Guns +2.
8. Keep assigning Skill ratings like this: Go with
+3/-3 next, +4/-4 after that, and finish with +5/-
5. Keep picking a new player to start. After this,
everyone should have six positive Skills (those at
1–5 and Guns +2) and five negative Skills.
9. Set all remaining Skills at 0: No plus, no minus,
just a big goose egg in all empty Skills.
10. Set the four Stats: Tell the players to look at
the different Stat boxes on the character sheet
(Brains, Chutzpah, Mechanics and Violence) and
the four Skills listed below each. To set a Stat’s
rating, count the number of Skills below it that
have any kind of positive rating (not negative nor
zero). If a player has Bluff -1, Charm +3, Intimidate
+1 and Stealth 0, their Chutzpah would be 2.
 Step C: Focus on Naughty Stuff
11. Pick a Secret Society: Let players look at the
IntSec Secret Society Table on page 22. Players
must pick one of them for their Troubleshooter
and write that down on the Naughty side. This will
impact some Skills when everyone gets to that part.
12. Pick a Mutant Power: Let players look at the
R&D Mutant Power Table below. Players must
pick one of them for their Troubleshooter and
likewise write it down.
13. Apply the Service Group Skill Modifiers: Each
service group provides +1 to one Stat and -1 to
two Skills. For example, Armed Forces gives +1
Violence, -1 Science and -1 Charm. If a player had
Violence +1, Science +3 and Charm +1 already,
they would now have Violence +2, Science +2
and Charm 0 after years of volunteering for Armed
Forces. Stat and Skill limits are +5 and -5; any
unused modifiers are simply lost. Hey, do not be so
incompetent at planning next time.
14. Apply the Secret Society Skill Modifiers:
Likewise, a player’s secret society impacts Skills. It
does not impact Stats. One gets +2 added to it while
the other gets -2. The maximum is still +/-5, just like
with Stats. If a player picked PURGE as their society
and they have Demolitions +4 and Stealth +5, they
would now have Demolitions +5 (remember, cannot
go higher than that) and Stealth +3.
Step D: Finish Up Already
15. Players give their Troubleshooters 8 Moxie and
200 XP Points.
16. Leave the Wound and Flag sections alone.
17. Skip the Mission Objective for now: You will
assign this during the mission briefing.
18. Have each player write down the following
under Assigned Gear: Red laser pistol and Red
reflec armour.
Some players and GMs do not like adding
competition into creating characters. That
is fine! If you really want a more boring
way to do this, each player assigns +1
through +5 to five Skills and -1 through -5
to five other Skills. The rest of the rules
apply: A player takes Guns +2, counts
positive Skills to set Stats and the rest. Of
course, there is nothing wrong with the GM
creating pregens to try and make the game
end on time for once.

What happens if someone picks a Skill

for themselves but the clockwise player
already has a rating for that skill? How do
you give -2 to Bluff if someone already has
Bluff +3? Simple: The player goes to the
next open Skill downwards, moving to the
next Stat’s Skills to the right if needed. If
you have Bluff +3 but are told to take Bluff
-2, and if you have Charm unassigned, then
you would have Charm -2. If all Chutzpah
Skills have ratings already, you would start
with the first Skill under Mechanics and
keep going down the line. (Violence leads
to Brains to complete the circle.)

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 CPU’s Service Group Table
SERVICE GROUP PURPOSE STAT MODIFIER SKILL MODIFIERS
-1 to Science
Armed Forces Fight battles to protect Alpha Complex +1 to Violence
-1 to Stealth
-1 to Guns
CPU Run the government and analyse data +1 to Brains
-1 to Operate
-1 to Throw
HPD&MC Create rooms, entertainment and propaganda +1 to Chutzpah
-1 to Intimidate
-1 to Engineer
IntSec Enforce laws and terminate traitors +1 to Violence
-1 to Charm
-1 to Athletics
PLC Create and distribute items including food +1 to Chutzpah
-1 to Program
-1 to Melee
Power Services Generate power and maintain the grid +1 to Mechanics
-1 to Demolitions
-1 to Operate
R&D Invent things to improve life and fight traitors +1 to Brains
-1 to Alpha Complex
-1 to Psychology
Technical Services Create and repair machinery including bots +1 to Mechanics
-1 to Bluff

IntSec’s Secret Society Table

SECRET SOCIETY PURPOSE SKILL MODIFIERS
+2 to Intimidate
Antimutant Kill mutants and stop chemicals in food and drink that cause mutations
-2 to Bluff
+2 to Stealth
Communists Turn Alpha Complex into a communist utopia for the people
-2 to Charm
+2 to Program
Corpore Metal Humans are obsolete so track bot stats like footballers
-2 to Psychology
+2 to Throw
Death Leopard Rock out, get wasted and cause a lot of mayhem (and get away with it)
-2 to Engineer
+2 to Psychology
FCCCP Worship The Computer as God and punish heathens and heretics
-2 to Science
+2 to Melee
Frankenstein Destroyers Bots are evil and should be destroyed, but are you secretly an android?
-2 to Program
+2 to Bluff
Free Enterprise Gangs that sell anything to anyone for the right price
-2 to Bureaucracy
+2 to Operate
Haxxor Information and Friend Computer must be under human control
-2 to Melee
+2 to Science
Psion Humans are obsolete so blindly obey your mutant masters
-2 to Athletics
+2 to Demolitions
PURGE Weekend warriors set on destroying everything and starting over
-2 to Stealth
+2 to Bureaucracy
Romantics Pre-Whoops life was way better despite knowing nothing about it
-2 to Intimidate
+2 to Athletics
Sierra Club Lovers of nature who are eager to kill to protect it
-2 to Alpha Complex
There is no Illuminati secret society, and there never was. Fnord.

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 R&D’s Mutant Power Table
MUTANT POWER PURPOSE WARNINGS
Adrenalin Control Impressive bursts of strength and speed Can lead to aggression and wounds
Charm Win friends and influence people against their will Can backfire and make people despise you
Corrode Turn metal into a warm, ashy goo Rarely affects your own hands, hardly ever
Cryokinesis Create severe cold, even freeze things Oww, brain freeze!
Electroshock Shoot a bolt of electricity from your fingertips Might short-out electric devices nearby
It can block air, so how long can you hold
Force Field Project a 1-metre circle of invisible protection
your breath?
Hypersenses Turn the normal five senses up to 11 Overstimulation puts it mildly
Invisibility Go invisible, including your clothes and gear Ewww, only the skin went invisible
Can backfire and make bots and The
Machine Empathy Bots and even The Computer can obey you
Computer hate you
Mental Blast Damage someone’s brain from a distance Can be reflected back at your own mind
Pyrokinesis Create severe heat, even light things aflame Oww, 2nd-degree burns!
Telekinesis Move things with your mind Move everything except the thing
Telepathy Speak silently to others mind-to-mind Did you just broadcast your own thoughts?
It is easy to forget to bring clothes and gear
Teleport Bamf yourself to a new location you can see
along for the ride
X-ray Vision See through metal, flesh and similar materials Well hello, ocular melanoma!

Don't be a Lenny–R, be a Teela–O!

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 VIOLENCE BUTTON IDEAS
• Being mocked over something out of your control.
• When you receive a fine for 150 XP Points or more.
• A bad guy (or bot) gets away on your watch.
• Complaining about people with higher security clearances.
• Very long queues.
• Going from Fine to Injured in one roll.
• Someone gets promoted and you do not.
• Being ignored when you have something vital to share.
• Sudden, very loud noises.
• Wasting food, especially Hot Fun or Cold Fun.
• Cannot get through the door but must get through the door.
• Feeling like you are suffocating.
• Being told to be happy when you are at maximum happiness.
• The smell of expired soylent.
• Sleep deprivation.
• Something is on fire and no one is putting it out.
• The lights go out.
• Someone makes you bleed your own blood.
• Losing assigned gear.
• Someone bullying the weak and powerless.

Which one of you... Stop killing each other in the lineup!

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 TREASON BUTTON IDEAS
• Stuff kept behind unlocked doors.
• In a large crowd where cameras cannot see you.
• The thing you really need is just sitting there.
• You’ve been bored for almost 10 minutes straight.
• A higher clearance citizen acts like they are perfect.
• You are all alone, even just for a moment.
• A citizen mocks you in front of others.
• Someone does not value the important things they have.
• Seeing some pills that might create a nice psychedelic trip.
• You are treated like an idiot.
• A lower clearance citizen trying to get your attention.
• You are almost out of time to finish something.
• It is not just dirty but absolutely filthy.
• Something is close to falling over and breaking.
• A citizen has much nicer things than you.
• Seeing a mutant power in use.
• The lights go out.
• Someone was a prat to you just to be a prat.
• Justice was blocked by a rich and powerful citizen.
• There is a chance to bully someone weaker than you.

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 CHARACTER IMPROVEMENT
For when the GM and players want to run through a
Paranoia campaign, here are ways to ‘level up’ and
improve characters between missions. And if this is a
one-shot, the GM can use Upgrade Points as a score
to see which player won the game. Yeah, we know.
You cannot win at a roleplaying game. Screw that, Meeting the mission objective earns all
let’s decide who wins and who loses! Remember, Troubleshooters +1 UP but players will still
competition is only bad if you are weak and lazy. vote on which player did the most work to
reach it (and the winner gets +200 XP Points,
+2 Moxie, -1 flag and +1 clone). Do not forget
Earning Upgrade Points about secret objectives, too. (See page 13.)
To improve Troubleshooters, players need to spend
Upgrade Points (UP). To get some, Troubleshooters
need to reach debriefing and not be dead-dead.
Then, depending on your behaviour, GMs can give ○ 3 UP: Improve one Stat by +1 (max 5). This adds
them 1–3 UP. NODE +1 to all Skill rolls using that Stat but does
○ +1 UP to each Troubleshooter who made it to not impact the Skill ratings themselves.
debriefing (even on the last clone). ○ 1 UP: Improve one Skill by +1 (max 5). This does
○ +1 UP to each Troubleshooter if the team not change the governing Stat.
achieved their mission objective given in briefing ○ 1 UP: Gain another clone (i.e. get a 7th clone or
(no matter who met the objective). more). Only Troubleshooters get this option since
○ +1 UP to any Troubleshooter who the team votes their job is so dangerous and this lowers your
as Troubleshooters of the Weekcycle. current clone number. (Roy-G-BIV-6 spent 2 UP on
○ Troubleshooters who are dead-dead have nothing two new clones, so he is now called Roy-G-BIV-4.)
left to improve, so their players only get mocked
and belittled as they should. Dying on a mission is
always a choice, Troubleshooter!

Troubleshooter of the Weekcycle is an award given

to those who were most loyal and effective in the
mission, and winning Troubleshooters get featured
in the show Death, Combat & Genocide Variety Hour
and even get to meet Alpha Complex’s greatest hero,
Captain Alpha! The debriefing officer (i.e. you) will
go through Troubleshooters one at a time and ask all
players to openly vote on whether that Troubleshooter
should receive the award. Whoever gets the most
votes gets the award and one extra UP. Ties mean the
tying Troubleshooters each get one UP.

Spending Upgrade Points

UP can be spent to improve your Troubleshooter
in several ways. Note that players can spend UP
however they want, so if someone has 3 UP, they
could spend all three for one improvement or buy
three that cost 1 UP apiece. UP can be saved for
later but they can only be spent during debriefing
scenes. Any player who suddenly decides they want to
upgrade Guns just before attacking the Commies gets
points for trying but that is it.

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 THE RULES
When a Troubleshooter tries to do something
interesting, important or easy to screw up and kill
people they never met, they have to roll dice to see if
they are successful or a traitor who failed on purpose
because they hate The Computer and petbot puppies.
Here is how a Troubleshooter can do a thing:
1. A player explains how they want their
Troubleshooter to do the thing. Reward crazy,
entertaining actions and scoff loudly at anything
boring or worse – sensible.
2. The GM sets the Difficulty, or the number of
successes needed to do the thing. The GM can
share this info or jealousy hoard it so they can make
up any result and the players will never realise it.
3. The GM picks a Stat and Skill that is either most
relevant to doing the thing or the worst possible
combination so the player gives you a ton of side-
eye. This number is the player’s NODE, which is
how many dice they get to roll to do the thing.
4. The player adds any dice from equipment and
one Computer Dice. Equipment gives a number of
dice equal to their Level (so Lvl 3 = 3 extra dice).
No matter what, come HEL Sector or high water, a
player ALWAYS rolls the Computer Dice. Always.
5. The player rolls their NODE dice and counts any
dice showing a 5 or a 6 as a success. If the player
rolled successes equal to or above the Difficulty,
they do the thing. If not, or if the GM is feeling bitter,
they fail the thing. If the Computer symbol shows on
the Computer Dice, it counts as a success.
6. If they roll the Computer symbol, Friend
Computer suddenly pays attention to the whole
area! Treason Stars make it easier to roll that
symbol (see page 45).
7. Players spend 1–5 Moxie messing with the
results. Once the dice have been cast, GMs
must ask the players if anyone wants to change
successful dice into failures or the other way around.
Players can spend 1-5 Moxie to change that many
dice. The rolling player gets to do this, too.
Setting the NODE
A NODE is the size of a dice pool, i.e. how many dice
a player rolls for a given action. This is set by adding
together one Stat and one Skill that you choose for the
player. Then they add any bonuses from equipment
and always add the Computer Dice. If you said it
was a Violence + Guns roll and a Troubleshooter had
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Violence 2 and Guns 3, the player would have NODE
7 (2+3+Computer Dice) and therefore would roll six
dice when trying to shoot their loyalty officer in their
smug, stupid face. If they shot using a Lvl 1 laser rifle,
it would be NODE 8 instead.
Which Stats and Skills are best? That’s completely up
to you and players cannot complain without suffering
consequences that you set (THE POWER FEELS
SOOOOO RIGHTEOUS!). Sometimes, this is easy
to figure out; shooting a trusty laser pistol at a fleeing
terrorist is likely Violence+Guns. But feel free to
explore different combinations! Running while shooting
could be Violence+Athletics; an ambush could require
Violence+Stealth; and shooting a traitor in a crowd of
loyal citizens while actually caring about innocent lives
could be Brains+Guns. You should go with whatever
combo makes this player whine and the others cheer.
Because Troubleshooters can have negative Skill
ratings, sometimes a player winds up with a negative
NODE such as Violence 2 and Guns -4 creating
NODE -2. In this case, the player still rolls 3 dice
(2 + the Computer Dice). But any failed dice (1–4)
subtracts a successful dice (5–6). If the three dice
came up 3, 5 and 5, the player would only have one
success (the 3 cancels out one of the 5s).
Difficulty Ratings
The Difficulty is how many successes are needed to
do the thing correctly. Easy is DIFF 1, so only one
successful dice is needed to succeed; Average is
DIFF 2; Hard is DIFF 3; Very Hard is DIFF 4; and No
Seriously This Is Super Hard (NSTISH) comes in at
DIFF 5. You pick the difficulty rating you feel either 1)
makes the most sense given the scene or 2) has the
biggest chance at making the player fail spectacularly
and hurt their teammates to create resentment that
leads to internecine warfare. But hey, maybe the dice
won’t hate them this time? (Famous Game Designer
tip: Dice always hate us.)
The Computer Dice
Friend Computer always watches its citizens but
because that leads to collecting more data than It can
handle, It has to rely on actions triggering filters so It
knows what to pay attention to. In the game, this is
represented by the Computer Dice. (Yes, there is only
one die. Yes, we write dice. Deal with it.)
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 If the Computer symbol shows up on the Computer
Dice (or a 6 if using a regular die), then something
was flagged and Friend Computer is now paying very
much attention to the area where the Troubleshooter
is (not just the Troubleshooter who rolled but anyone
nearby). You can then decide what type of lesson or
correction Friend Computer thinks is best. And again,
the Computer Dice counts as one success if a 5 or the
Computer symbol shows up.
Moxie
Players can spend Moxie to turn failed dice into
successes – or successes into failures. Each player
can spend up to 5 Moxie on a given roll (that includes
the rolling player who spends BEFORE the other
players get to spend theirs. Try not to overspend!).
This is done publicly so everyone knows who that
player is screwing over. Just remind players to watch
out for Losing It (see page 31).
GMs Don’t Roll
Yes, you read that correctly. In this game, the GM
does not roll dice. Then how do you know what NPCs
do? That is up to the players’ rolls and your own
twisted mind. You react to their dice and use the result
to decide what the NPCs manage to do. As a general
rule, Troubleshooters receive one consequence
(wound, Treason Star, correction, etc.) for each
successful dice they lack. If a player faces DIFF 3
outside of combat and only gets one successful dice,
they get two consequences like a 50 XP Point fine and
a Treason Star or two Hurt wounds. Consequences
are solely your choice, so do not listen to players who
beg unless you want to.
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Example of the Core
Mechanic in Action
GM: You found your briefing room but there’s an
Orange clearance guard refusing to let you in. Your
Coretech kindly reminds you that you’re 20 minutes
late and XP Point fines are accruing.
Greg: Guards don’t scare me! I butter him up so we
can get inside, but I also ready my laser pistol.
GM: That sounded like Chutzpah+Charm until you
mentioned a gun, so roll Chutzpah+Intimidate instead.
(The GM secretly settles on DIFF 2 for this roll and
doesn’t share that with Greg.)
Greg: With Chutzpah +1 and Intimidate +3, I have
NODE +4. Plus the Computer Dice for 5d6. Here we go!
GM: Let’s see. You rolled 2, 2, 3, 5 and 5 on the
Computer Dice. You got two successes, which
matches the difficulty. Now, does anyone want to
spend Moxie to change things?
Eric: <nods to the GM, reaches for a successful dice
and silently turns a 5 into a 1. Then he takes away 1
Moxie from his character sheet.>
Dan: Nah, I’m good.
Greg: Oh, I see. Someone doesn’t want this mission
to succeed. You will pay, Eric.
Eric: Uh, no way! Dan did it. I saw him. I was only a
mirage.
Dan: Like hell! You even smiled when you made him fail!
Greg: I pull out my laser pistol and attack.
GM: Do you attack Eric’s Troubleshooter, Dan’s
Troubleshooter or the guard?
Greg: YOU WILL ALL DIE FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!
But I’ll start with Eric.
 Using Equipment
During the game, Troubleshooters can be assigned
gear, experimental devices and more. Some might
work. Some might blow up thanks to user error and
never because they were poorly designed and built.
Overall, equipment can help players have more dice to
roll and comes with some nifty effects.
All equipment includes a Level (Lvl) rating. Players
add that many dice to their NODE for any action using
that equipment. A laser rifle is Lvl 1 so add one dice
to the NODE (on top of the Stat and Skill numbers).
Levels are always positive and can be added to a
negative NODE if you can do math. (NODE -1 plus a
Lvl 1 laser rifle means NODE 0, which in turn means
the player only rolls the Computer Dice because that
is always rolled. Always.)
Success vs. Treason Effects
Every item Troubleshooters can use also has two
special effects: A Success effect (S) when the roll
meets or beats the Difficulty (i.e. they used the item
correctly) and a Treason effect (T) when the roll fails
(i.e. they failed to use the item correctly, which is
obviously some kind of sabotage because bad luck is
a myth promulgated by terrorists). As the GM, you are
encouraged to modify, ignore or apply these effects –
whichever makes the players groan and laugh.
For example, a Light Emitter Disguise Kit has, ‘S: +1
Treason Star to anyone saying you are not a lamp
| T: Cannot act until something hits you because
lamps don’t move’. If a roll has DIFF 2 and the player
rolls 2+ successes total, then you would apply the
Success result. That Troubleshooter is now officially
classified as a lamp and anyone saying otherwise
gains a Treason Star. If the player got one or no
successes, you would apply the Treason result. That
Troubleshooter stands still while everyone wonders
why they are wearing a lampshade as a hat.
Some equipment, like Red laser pistols, are so
common and basic that they have no Success nor
Treason effects.
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XP POINTS
As part of the Great Hotfix (see page 60), The Computer
turned the XP Point currency system into a social credit
system where each point is an official ‘Hey buddy, thanks
for the nice job’ from other citizens or Friend Computer.
The more XP Points you have, then the more trusted you
must be because everyone is taking the time to thank
you. And the more trusted you are, the more you should
be able to own. That is why citizens can still effectively
purchase goods and services with XP Points –
that payment is really official thanks for the hard work
citizens put into making the goods or services.
How do Troubleshooters earn XP Points? Mostly it
comes from their volunteer work (AKA service group
jobs). Each volunteer gets XP Points weekly based on
lots of factors like how likely they are to go postal over
low wages. Sorry, that was a mistake. Low thankyous.
While XP Points are not considered currency
anymore, they are functionally identical. Just do not
say that to Friend Computer or you will wind up with
several cauterised laser shot wounds in your face.
Dark Web and Black Markets
Since there is no official currency in Alpha Complex,
does that mean there is no underground black market?
Nope. In fact, there are many.
Traitors sometimes set up physical black markets,
typically in the Underplex or on the dark web (yes,
Alpha Complex has a dark web just like real life).
Citizens can browse questionable merchandise and
trade using their XP Points. The dark web is home to
many illegal sites and files, and that certainly includes
a digital black market for more XP Point spending.
Such online shopping even includes rapid shipping so
players do not have to wait for several real-time hours
before getting the ill-gotten toys.
Why does Friend Computer permit black market
shopping? It does not. XP Points spent in black markets
get digitally laundered and end up in a blockchain
ledger as, ‘Giving thanks to a loyal citizen’. Big C wants
citizens to thank each other as positive reinforcement
for loyal behaviour, so treason filters overlook them.
Also, many High Programmers and Violet clearance
citizens enjoy black markets, especially their
commissions. This all means Troubleshooters can
spend their hard-earned XP Points on treasonous
equipment without being immediately arrested. Is that
not a tad convenient? Sure is. What, game design
cannot be convenient?
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 CORETECHS and APPS
Every clone has a brain implant called a Cerebral
Coretech, which provides an augmented reality
display, vitals monitoring and communication and
recording capabilities. It also keeps a cloud backup of
everyone’s personality and memories for implanting
into their next clone.
A Coretech’s always-on heads-up display supplements
what a clone sees by adding – or sometimes redacting
– information. Such data includes citizen names,
Treason Stars, object identification, map route-finding
arrows, tutorial videos and more. All citizens can view
other citizens’ Treason Stars displayed above their
heads so they know who to shun and avoid.
In addition to accessing information and
propagandatainment from approved databases, social
media and video streams, Coretechs allow clones to
download apps that enhance their abilities, including
skills and improved sensory capabilities. These are
always perfectly designed, so any rumours of brain
haemorrhages or wetting oneself are treason. Data
is conveniently stored in the clone’s own grey matter.
(Sudden forgetfulness is a sign that your memory is
filling up.)
Clones can talk privately to The Computer via
Coretech by thinking hard and getting answers
directly in their auditory processing centre. They
can also send short messages to other clones
anywhere in Alpha Complex in the same manner, so
Troubleshooters can talk to each other as long as they
are close to Alpha Complex. Coretechs also handle
audio/video recording activated by eye movements.
If The Computer can look and hear through any
citizen, how does anyone commit treason? Two ways:
Deadzones and clutter.
○ There are spaces within Alpha Complex where the
network cannot reach (on accident or purpose).
These are called deadzones and Coretechs do not
work there. Nothing can be recorded or seen by
Friend Computer, and comms do not work either.
Deadzones are called that because scrubots keep
finding dead bodies in those areas.
○ Millions of citizens out there have Coretechs
running 24/7, resulting in petabytes of new
recordings every weekcycle. Who has the time to
go through all that clutter? Even with automatic
filters in place, The Computer and Its minions
simply cannot catch all the treason being recorded.
Many a traitor avoided the firing squad simply by
being overlooked in a sea of data.
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MOXIE
Moxie is a metacurrency, meaning they are points
given by GMs to reward players (not characters)
doing fun and interesting things. While it represents
a Troubleshooter’s stress levels (think of each point
as a spoon in Spoon Theory), its real purpose is to let
players commit more treason. All Troubleshooters start
a game session (not necessarily a mission’s start)
with 8 Moxie and these can be spent to commit some
delicious treason. Tasty!
Earning Moxie
There are three ways a player can earn Moxie from
the GM:
1. Voluntarily roleplaying their character’s
Violence and Treason buttons. If a player
voluntarily acts out one of their buttons when
that makes sense to you, give them two points of
Moxie (maybe more if it was really funny).
2. Making people laugh or being entertaining.
This is a game, so it should be fun and enjoyable.
Reward players who add to the fun with one or more
points of Moxie like treats are used to train dogs.
3. Whenever you want to reward behaviour.
Remember how Paranoia GMs have powers but
also responsibilities? Part of that includes making
sure players are enjoying the game. You can dole
out Moxie to reward proper Paranoia behaviour (like
backstabbing and blackmailing). Once the players
figure out what earns Moxie, they will be all over it.
Technically there is a fourth way: Lose all Moxie, die
and come back, as that brings the citizen back with 4
Moxie only. This applies whether the Troubleshooter
died in the line of duty, in the line for snacks or by
having no Moxie left and Losing It (see page 31).
Spending Moxie
Players can spend 1–5 Moxie at a time for any of these
four effects. Just remind players that if they end up with
no Moxie left, their character Loses It and aggressively
acts out one of their buttons (GM’s choice) until death.
1. Flip a successful or failed dice: Turn a
successful dice that has been rolled already into
a failed dice or failed one to a successful dice.
This is done publicly in hopes that blood feuds
erupt. Players can change one die for each point
of Moxie spent (up to five). The rolling player gets
to do this, too. You can turn a Computer symbol
(which is a success) into a failure, but you cannot
take away Friend Computer's loving attention nor
make that happen with Moxie.
 What a remarkable co-incidence that Internal Security arrived just now.
2. Using a Mutant Power: Every Troubleshooter has
a mutant power and it costs 1–5 Moxie to use it
(more Moxie means bigger results, good or bad).
Players must send you a note or text with the
mutant power’s name, how much Moxie is spent
and the target (like Cryokinesis, Bill, 3). Then you
tell him to make a cover roll (see page 42) to help
hide its use from the others.
3. Calling in a Service Group favour: Each player
can discreetly message their service group (like
IntSec or CPU) from their Coretech. By spending
1-5 Moxie, that player gets assistance from their
service group in a way related to the group’s
industry: Armed Forces provides military help,
HPD&MC provides propaganda help and so on.
See each service group’s description (on page 84)
for ideas on what different favours might cost.
4. Calling in a Secret Society favour: Each player
can also discreetly send a message (just not
through the Coretech!) to their secret society
requesting some definitely illegal help related to
that society’s purpose: Antimutant can provide
violence, Haxxor can hack systems and so on.
See each secret society’s description (starting on
page 93) for recommended favours and again, you
decide how long it takes for the traitors to show up
and do something.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
For favours, a player can ask for anything they want
– but you decide what they get and when they get it.
Just make sure it is slightly useful; players will stop
spending Moxie on favours if these quickly become
painful lessons in what not to do. Pro-tip: Let the
first and/or second favour request work amazingly
well for that player. That will motivate the others to
use favours, which you can then crush as you laugh
maniacally and mock their sad faces.
Losing It
Remember how Moxie reflects a Troubleshooter’s
stress level? If a player ever runs out of Moxie, their
Troubleshooter snaps from the stress (no spoons left)
and Loses It. The GM picks one of the two buttons,
and the player must take it to a wildly aggressive
extreme. If their Violence button is a long, seemingly
endless queue, that Troubleshooter would hunt down
people waiting in long lines and berate or attack them.
A Troubleshooter calms back down when either you
give them a point of Moxie (so they can stop hogging
all the attention) or they die. Hard to be grumpy when
you are dead. Troubleshooters who die this way come
back with 4 Moxie because, for some reason, citizens
find death, rebirth and being back in the field within
minutes to be disquieting.
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 COMBAT Attacking
In many roleplaying games, combat is a complicated To attack an enemy (like a teammate), the player first
affair with modifiers for damage types, range, terrain, explains what they want to do. Use that to set their
species, class, armour, mood, windspeed, declination NODE by picking a Stat and Skill combination you
of the Moon, GM irritability, phone calls that player feel fits best given what the player explained. Then
made during the game and sometimes Boxing Day. add a number of dice equal to any equipment’s level
However, this is Paranoia where things are a bit (Red laser pistols are so simple they do not add any
different because they are, frankly, better. dice). Always add the Computer Dice. Always. Lastly,
set the difficulty (usually between one and three but
can go higher) but do not share that with players.
Initiative
This helps you change things should the dice dare
When deciding who goes first during combat, The
interfere with your vision.
Computer always goes first. Always. Next, look at
security clearances. Through the ubiquitous Coretech
brain implant, Friend Computer throttles a citizen’s
nervous system depending on how much It currently
trusts them. That is why Ultraviolet clearance goes
right after Friend Computer, followed by Violet, then
Indigo and so on down to the ones that always go
last: Infrareds.

Does this mean GMs can cancel a winning

Within a clearance’s initiative, all actions are
roll or cause damage without rolls? Sort of.
simultaneous. That means a team of six Red clearance
Troubleshooters will all go at the same time and cannot
GMs have the power to alter, ignore or
dodge any of their attacks against each other (two
celebrate any rule as the game progresses,
Troubleshooters shooting each other would both hit
but be warned: Players will not enjoy the
if both rolled well). Pick one Troubleshooter for any
game if their rolling does not matter and their
reason that makes your dark heart grin, then go in a
enjoyment is a big reason why GMs run games.
clockwise direction until everyone has a turn that round.
Use your power wisely. Make sure players are
Then mix it up next round by starting with a different
having fun, not just you, and that you change
player and going clockwise.
things when that helps everyone enjoy the
game more. Lastly, remember that people
Some competitive players might find comfort in going
matter more than our games. If the players are
sooner than the teammates who want them dead. In
getting frustrated, change how you do things
those cases, they can bump their initiative to the
so they get back to having a blast.
next clearance level (like Red to Orange) by taking
a -1 NODE penalty to the upcoming roll for rushing to
go first. This can be done up to five times in a given
roll, meaning a Red Troubleshooter could go at Indigo
with -5 to their NODE that turn. The player does not
have to explain what their action is ahead of time Once this is done, compare the number of successes to
unless the GM says that is needed. the difficulty as usual to determine if the attack landed.
If the Computer symbol is rolled on the Computer Dice,
Because all players can take that NODE-based The Computer suddenly decides to pay attention to
reckless trade-off, this might lead to an arms race everyone in that area and can act first next round if It
where one player bumps to Orange, so another goes needs to. Do not forget that flags like C-of-I can make
to Orange as well, which makes the first one go to rolling the Computer symbol a lot easier.
Yellow, and so on until both have -5 NODE. If this
happens, try to contain your glee, as this is totally not
a thing planned by the designers.

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 Don’t burn your bridges. Bridges are flame-proof. Use high explosives.
Defending
The only way to really defend against an attack is to
go before the attacker, because there is no defence
quite as effective as killing the bastards before they
can even aim (that is why going earlier in initiative
is so useful). Armour takes away successes, -1 per
Level, to decrease damage or even block the attack.
And because we know your players will ask, they
cannot dodge a laser without moving faster than light,
so good luck with that.
Area Effects, Conditions
and Movement Squares
HAHAHAHAHA no. Paranoia combat is meant to be
quick and fatal, not full of modifiers and rules to look
up. Not that we are mocking not-fun RPGs that do
that. Detailed combat rules are not the wrong way to
have fun, just the wrong way for this game.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Wounds
Although exceedingly rare, sometimes a
Troubleshooter gets wounded when hunting down
terrorists. It is rare because it is way more likely
that Troubleshooters get seriously hurt by other
Troubleshooters, briefing officers, random Infrareds
with more muscles than brains, bots, things that live in
the darkness, experimental Bouncy Bubble Beverage
flavours and a whole lot more.
Because GMs do not roll in Paranoia, how can GMs
know if an NPC hits a Troubleshooter? By looking for
failed rolls. Anytime a player does not at least match
the difficulty of a roll in combat, they get a wound.
Should you give worse wounds for ridiculously bad
rolls? Sure! Anything that puts Troubleshooters at a
disadvantage sounds good to us.
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 When a Troubleshooter faces damage from combat
or eating a questionable Eggiez(TM) Legally-Not-Egg
sandwiches, there are five wound levels to consider.
Because they represent physical wounds, these can
affect your NODEs. (It is harder to cut the blue wire
when both hands are cauterised stumps.)
○ Fine: The default state. Uninjured. Not worth
mentioning. Why are you even reading this?
○ Hurt (-1 NODE): Damaged enough to feel some
pain but not too much. Bruised and maybe bloody
but not bowed. -1 NODE until healed.
○ Injured (-2 NODE): Suffering from serious wounds
and pain. No broken bones but plenty of nasty
bruises or bleeding cuts. -2 NODE until healed.
○ Maimed (-3 NODE): Badly wounded and unable to
use one part of their body, possibly because it is
missing. This covers broken bones, lost limbs and
sucking chest wounds. -3 NODE until healed.
○ Dead: Time for a new clone! See page 35.
If an attack comes from another player, they get to
roll dice for their attack. If the combat roll matches
the difficulty number, the attack hits and causes a
Hurt wound. (If it is DIFF 3 and the player rolled
two successes, they would fail. Three successes?
It matches the DIFF, so the attack causes one Hurt
wound.) For each success past the difficulty, the
wound increases in severity: Hurt to Injured, Injured to
Maimed and Maimed to Dead.
GM: You have the Infrared against the wall. She
keeps saying, ‘Gotta work, gotta work’ over and over
again. What next?
Lily: Oh, she’s gonna say something else eventually.
I hit her hard across the ribs with the skinnerstick I
mysteriously received but definitely was not a favour.
GM: Attacking an unarmed, unresisting clone? I’m
unsurprised. Roll... uh, roll Violence + Melee.
Lily: I got Violence +1 and Melee at +3. Someone
give me four six-siders, please.
Muhammad: Don’t forget to include the Computer dice!
Lily: Wow. Thank you for reminding me. I almost
forgot to roll the dice that can get me in trouble.
GM: And skinnersticks are Lvl 1, so your NODE is 6.
Lily: What’s the difficulty number?
34
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
GM: Lose 25 XP Points for asking a stupid question.
Lily: Whatever. <Rolls> Sweet! That’s three successes!
GM: It was DIFF 2. Two successes match the DIFF, so
that’s one Hurt wound. You have an extra success, so
Hurt gets turned into Injured. But skinnersticks cause
-1 Moxie per wound, so the Infrared clone winces at the
shock of pain, then looks right in your eyes with pure
hatred and loathing. ‘Gotta work, but first, gotta kill!’
Muhammad: Hey! You made a new friend!
What if there was no roll, such as a Troubleshooter
eating a room-temperature Eggiez(TM) Legally-Not-
Egg sandwich? GMs do not have to listen to mere dice
anyway, so that Troubleshooter gets either a specific or
generic wound depending on what sounds fun to you.
○ Specific wounds are just that. You specify
which wound (Hurt, Injured, Maimed or Dead)
and the player puts a check mark in the relevant
box on their character sheet and rues their life.
If a Troubleshooter already has a check mark in
that box, they mark the next severe one. Already
Injured and get a new Injured wound? Sucks to be
Maimed like that.
○ Generic wounds are when you simply say, ‘Hey
there, take a wound’. Because you do not specify the
severity, the player starts at the Hurt box and checks
the first available box down the list. Doing Fine but
told to take a wound? Welcome to Hurtsville.
Healing
In a society where everyone has five backup clones
and Infrareds are mere cattle, medical science has
fallen behind other areas. The best way to heal up, at
least according to The Computer, is to call for a docbot.
Because docbots often prepare risky surgeries in the
field using a spoon, a chainsaw and a marked lack of
anaesthetic, many Troubleshooters stay far away from
them. GMs can let docbots heal one wound, all wounds
or cause a few so the patient has a complete set.
If docbots are off the table, the next best thing is a
medkit. These idiot-proof kits offer simple treatments
like casts, bandages, burn spray and so on. As a
general rule, players heal similar to how they take
wounds. If the medkit roll matches the difficulty, the
player can erase the most severe wound. (Any player
who tries to use a medkit to heal dead deserves -1
Moxie and a concerned look.)
 Often however, getting a new clone is easier. Self-
euthanasia is such a nicer way to put it, right?
Replacement Clones
Each citizen has six total clones (a ‘six-pack’) and starts
on clone #1. After a well-deserved termination, the
character will awaken in a new but identical body fresh
from the clone vats, memories all intact right up to the
point of your last backup. (This always loses the last five
minutes of memory and that conveniently stops clones
from remembering who exactly killed them.)
Not knowing who did the dirty deed is
on purpose. This prevents players from
showing up with a new clone, attacking
whoever killed their first one and creating a
downward spiral of revenge fights whenever
new clones arrive. That tends to derail
missions in a not-fun way, hence the need
for a small gap in memories. Besides, do
you want to be a player if two others are
hogging all your attention?
A clone replacement shows up whenever it is
convenient to you. Try to get them back soon so they
can start working on sweet, sweet revenge. But note
this: Treason dies with the clone. If Liam-O-DEA-1
was terminated for stealing a genetically modified
hantavirus, Liam-O-DEA-2 cannot be punished for
causing genocide because the crime was caught and
corrections applied. If Liam-O-DEA-1 had never been
caught stealing a hantavirus, he can still get in trouble
for it regardless of which clone he is on.
Since your game session might possibly include a
few Troubleshooter deaths, here are some important
details to know:
○ Newly decanted clones have the same security
clearance, secret society, mutant power and XP
Points of their antecedent.
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○ A new clone arrives with 4 Moxie, one-half of what
they start with because it is a bit stressful to wake
up in a new body covered in clone growth goo.
○ All wounds and flags are erased so they are
healthy and loyal. (Treason dies with the clone,
remember?)
○ All equipment (assigned or treasonous) is
untouched and back in their possession. No
character can take another’s equipment without
the expressed, written consent of The Computer
(not the GM).
That makes no sense. Why are Troubleshooters stopped
from the old RPG trope of looting dead bodies? To be
honest... because the game works much better this
way. If you could loot PC bodies, the new clone would
arrive with nothing. They would be at the mercy of
anyone who still has a laser pistol and reflec. Making
a Troubleshooter helpless against their teammates
definitely has a place in Paranoia but only a rare one.
We want all players to be able to cause a ruckus, so
taking that away from one player while the others have
everything can lead to the not-fun kind of frustrating.
Lower clearance citizens might have to wait days or
weeks for their replacement clone to be decanted but
Troubleshooters need their clone replacements ASAP,
so the delivery is quick and often by autocar, flybot,
pneumatic tube, teleporter, trebuchet, storkbot or our
personal favourite: It just happens.
Example of combat
GM: The Commie pulls out a grenade and says, ‘Back
off, capitalist pigdogs! Or I’ll blow us all up!’
Allen: I aim for the Commie’s wrist and shoot her
hand off so she drops the grenade before she pulls
the pin.
Beth: I aim... wait, what did you say? Eww, gross.
Anyway, I see Allen’s Troubleshooter shooting at the
grenade, so I shoot him for being a stinkin’ traitor and
trying to blow us all up.
Paul: Seems pretty open-and-shut to me. I shoot
Allen’s character, too.
Allen: I never liked either of you.
GM: The Commie is Orange clearance. Would anyone
like to go before the angry woman with a grenade?
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 Beth: Crap, okay. I got a high Guns, so I’ll take a -2
NODE penalty and go at Yellow.
Allen: Ruh-roh. You know what? Fine. It’s fine. It’s all
very, very fine. I stay at Red.
Paul: Same. I want to see how Beth does before
getting involved.
GM: Beth-R, you go first, Shooting Allen-R is
Violence + Guns and I won't tell you the Difficulty
because I don't want to.
Allen: Oh, I know. And you know what? That’s so
damn f i n e.
Beth: Damn, that -2 knocks my NODE down to just
three dice and the Computer Dice. Okay, I roll and...
looks like two successes and no Computer symbol!
GM: His character is wearing Red clearance reflec,
which takes away one success from a Red laser.
That gives you one total, which means Allen’s
Troubleshooter takes a Hurt wound.
Allen: But I already have a Hurt.
GM: Then you take an Injured wound instead.
Allen: But I already have an Injured.
GM: Sigh. Your character dies from a random sniper
that targets characters whose players can’t figure
out how to communicate what wounds they have
and waste our time. Your replacement will arrive
eventually. It’s the Commie’s turn since Orange goes
next. She pulls the pin... and nothing happens.
Allen: Hooray for PLC’s lack of oversight and standards!
GM: Hush, corpses don’t get sassy. Paul, now it’s
your turn so you can now tell me what your character
does now.
Paul: Do I still have to shoot Allen’s character?
<writes furiously on a scrap of paper>
GM: No.
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Paul: ... aha! I shoot the Commie, obviously! See,
Beth? This is loyalty! <hands the GM a note that says,
‘Commie, Teleport, 3’ because he’s a Commie and
wants to protect his brother in arms>
GM: Got it. Let’s go with Chutzpah and Guns since
you’re all ‘Look at me, I’m Loyal McTrustworthy the
Third, Esquire.’
Paul: Damn, looks like I missed. Heh, no successes at all.
GM: Actually, you hit! In fact, you vaporised him. He’s
completely gone, just a wisp of smoke left behind.
Beth: Really? Vaporised? On a roll with no successes?
GM: Yes really. Care to challenge that call?
Beth: <looks at Allen> Nope, everything really is fine
right now. The future might be different for some of us.
GMs do not have to stick with Violence
+ Guns or Violence + Melee! Look at the
context and see if any other combos fit. An
ambush might use Violence + Stealth; firing
a huge, heavy weapon could use Violence
+ Athletics; and firing at just the right time
to hit the target might need Brains + Guns.
Remember, players love using whatever
combo gives them a nice, fat NODE, so feel
free to pick their worst ratings to see how
much fun it can be to fail a roll in Paranoia.
Besides, they can always spend Moxie to
improve their chances.
 Don’t be a Lenny. Buy something you do not need today!
EQUIPMENT
Equipment in Paranoia has two main raison d’etres: 1)
Give players chances to be more entertaining and 2)
like so many other RPGs, we use long equipment lists
to make up for a lack of originality. (Yep, we need 16
different types of polearms! Players totally need that
many and never want more lore!)
For Troubleshooters, all equipment is either Assigned
(it belongs to Friend Computer so be careful with it),
Personal (it belongs to the Troubleshooter who bought
it legally but still be careful with it) or Treasonous
(it is illegal and only traitors have one so go nuts
with it). While these categories have no mechanical
effects, they might change what happens if a device is
damaged or lost.
Level and Clearance
When using gear in a roll, your NODE increases by
the item’s level (Lvl). A plasma generator is Lvl 5,
which means adding five dice to the NODE. Lvl 0
means no extra dice but you can still roll normally.
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The item’s clearance is the minimum security
clearance permitted to use, fondle or own that item. If
the clearance is Treason, then the item is illegal and
will most likely get you executed while your friends
point and laugh. However, Troubleshooters assigned
items are free to use them despite not having the right
clearance. If Friend Computer says it is so, it is so.
Success and Treason
When using an item, tell the player to roll using
whatever Stat + Skill combo makes sense. If the
roll is successful, apply the Success effect. If the
roll is a big, fat failure, apply the Treason effect.
(Friend Computer believes there are no failures, only
treasonously avoiding success.)
Unless the item’s write-up says otherwise, all weapons
cause damage based on how many successes are
rolled minus any armour in addition to any Success/
Treason effect. GMs can adjust the Success/Treason
effects to make a scene more interesting, hard or evil.
37
 ARMOUR
Armour always works in combat (except when the GM
says it does not), so no roll is needed. GMs should
always apply the Success effect unless that would
be boring (and take away successes equal to the
armour’s level) and they can use the Failure effect
when any player does not laugh at the GMs’ jokes.

Double Armour (Lvl 2 | Green)

A combination of reflec armour (useful against all
lasers but Ultraviolet ones) and kevlar armour (protects
against kinetics like bullets). S: -2 successes from
any attack roll using lasers lower than UV or physical
attacks like with bullets. | T: Protective but bulky; -1
NODE to all rolls while wearing it from now on.

Kevlar Armour (Lvl 3 | Orange)

Helmet, vest, arm and leg armour that protects
against bullets and other physical weapons. S: Stupid
attacker. -3 successes from all attack rolls using
physical damage like knives or truncheons. Energy
attacks like a laser pistol are unaffected. | T: Too bad
this did not cover the groin; take damage normally and
hope to avoid a Maimed result from the attack.

Reflec Armour (Lvl 1 | Red-Violet)

Shiny jumpsuits that block laser shots of the same
clearance or lower ONLY. S: Remove one success
from a laser attack of the same colour clearance
or lower (so Red blocks Red lasers but not Orange
ones). | T: This should have been worn over the face.
Take damage normally.

Riot Shield (Lvl 1 | Red)

A clear, rectangular shield with a smiley face on the
front. S: -1 success from an attack roll’s result before
determining damage from any weapon. | T: The shield
worked but broke, so have fun explaining that to
Friend Computer.

Total Safety Armour,

AKA The Safe (Lvl 5 | Blue): A coffin-shaped,
indestructible metal container big enough for one
clone inside. Provides the ultimate protection at the
cost of all mobility and common sense. S: Block all
damage, even from lava, nukes, etc. | T: The Safe has
fallen and anyone inside is stuck. At least there is no
damage from the fall.

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 CORETECH APPS
Action Cache (Lvl 2 | Red): Makes a copy of nerve
signals used in your last action so it can be repeated
even if incapacitated. S: Redo the user’s last action
on the turn after their death; make a roll if necessary.
| T: The last action never stops happening until the
corpse falls apart; the next clone starts with -50 XP
Points to pay for the damage.
Happy Place (Lvl 1 | Infrared): Fills the brain with
sounds, sights, smells, etc. that makes things happier
and less stressful for most citizens. S: Cancel losing
up to 3 Moxie from a stressful event (not spending
Moxie, just losing some). | T: Things are so happy that
nothing aggressive can be done; will happily get beat
up rather than fight.
Pak-N-Sniff (Lvl 2 | Yellow): Intercept data packets
from a target’s Coretech signal before they act. S:
Pick a human character and go one security clearance
before them this round. (Picking a Yellow citizen
means you go at Green without spending Moxie.) | T:
Overwhelmed by packets from everyone nearby; go
dead last this round (even Infrareds act sooner).
Vidiot Studio Pro (Lvl 2 | Yellow): Idiot-proof video
editing software that pretties up Coretech recordings.
S: +1 success when editing video evidence or using
it to back accusations. | T: Accidentally deleted the
good parts, so +1 Treason Star for purposefully
ruining evidence.
Happy Place
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Torch
INTEL and COUNTERINTEL
Data Bomb (Lvl 3 | Green): A device that emits a
polymorphic worm virus that hits any digital storage
medium within a metre before deleting itself. S: All
digitally-stored data within one metre is permanently
erased. Bots either go Frankenstein or power down. | T:
The only affected device is the user’s Coretech, so now
they have amnesia (but know to obey Friend Computer,
higher clearance citizens and other basic skills).
Actor’s Friend (Lvl 2 | Yellow): A collection of
makeup, wigs, fake moustaches and fake teeth that
supposedly works as a great disguise despite looking
lame. S: +1 success on the next applicable roll. | T:
-2 NODE for the next applicable roll because no one
looks like that normally.
Light Emitter Disguise Kit (Lvl 2 | Orange): The
kit comes with a lampshade hat and a fake power
cord, which would be laughable if Friend Computer’s
sensors did not decide this kit always works perfectly.
S: +1 Treason Star to anyone saying you are not a
lamp | T: You really get into the role and cannot act
until something hits you because lamps don’t move.
Spybot (Lvl 2 | Orange): four-rotor drone that sends
audio/video recordings to (and is controlled by) your
Coretech. S: +1 success for spying on a scene. | T:
Drone gets bit and chewed on by a passing petbot and
destroyed.
Torch (Lvl 0 | Red): Your standard flashlight. S:
Hooray, you can see! | T: You have seen enough horror
videos to know what happens when the torch stutters
before going out, so -2 Moxie (-3 if in total darkness).
Sense Multiplier (Lvl 3 | Yellow): Triples the
amplitude of sensory signals to Coretechs, effectively
tripling range and sensitivity. S: +2 successes for
using any of the five senses to gather intel. | T: WAY
TOO MUCH WAY TOO MUCH and -2 Moxie as the
user’s brain freaks out.
39
 MALFEASANCE CONTROL DEVICES
(MCD)
Ankle Monitor (Lvl 2 | Red): Anklet with a locating
signal that can only be put on or removed by a citizen
of higher security clearance. S: Know the exact
location of the monitor (and hopefully the citizen
wearing it). | T: Why does the unlock button look
identical to the yes-keep-the-monitor-on button? And
where did that traitor go?
MISCELLANEOUS GEAR
Elevator Safety Foam (Lvl 1 | Infrared): Pull the
can’s tab and a safe-to-eat foam fills an elevator car-
sized area. The foam quickly hardens into a rubber-
like substance. Comes in only Moss & Mushroom
flavour. S: Remove all but one wound from a drop or
fall. | T: The foam gets in the user’s lungs who dies
miserably but comically.
Medkit (Lvl 2 | Orange): A medical kit with simple first
aid supplies (so no cool drugs). S: Heal 1 wound, +1
additional wound healed for every success above the
DIFF. | T: This might sting? Increase the wound by one
step (like Injured to Maimed).

Repkit (Lvl 2 | Orange): A repair kit with simple tools

and spare parts for repairing mechanical and electronic
devices. S: +2 successes to repair a bot or mechanical
device. | T: Oops, wrong wire; whatever was being
repaired is permanently broken, so +1 Treason Star.

PRESCRIPTIONS
These last as long as the GM needs them to last–or
when the joke gets stale.
Ankle Monitor
Gelgernine, AKA Happy Pills (Lvl 3 | Red): The go-
Hyperspray (Lvl 2 | Yellow): Think of pepper spray
to for happiness in a little blue pill. S: +2 Moxie and
but instead of capsaicin, it contains one use of any
reduce all current flags by one step (like Greylisted
single prescription drug (chosen when bought, cannot
becomes Loyal). | T: So happy that the user cannot
be reloaded). S: Target enjoys whatever drug that was
complain about anything, even losing that much blood.
in the spray. | T: Can you believe a Troubleshooter
held this backwards and sprayed their own eyes?
Focusol (Lvl 3 | Clearance): Small black capsules
usually in a brown plastic bottle. S: +1 success to all
Pedestrian Cruise Control (Lvl 2 | Orange): High-tech
Brains rolls thanks to a laser-like focus. | T: User gets
leg braces that force the wearer to walk a route specified
social skills of an obsessed sociopath, so -2 NODE to
by the owner’s Coretech (not the wearer’s). S: Force the
all Chutzpah rolls.
wearer to walk a route of your choosing for five minutes
at a time. | T: Too bad HPD&MC has not updated their
maps yet. The wearer walks into a wall for a Hurt and the
user (not the wearer) gets +1 Treason Star.

Traitor Leash (Lvl 2 | Red): A metal collar connected

to an elastic leash so traitors can be led around. S: -2
NODE for trying to escape or go where the user does
not want. | T: Hit the wrong Coretech command and
accidentally free the target and get +2 Treason Stars.

Zip Ties (Lvl 1 | Red): Plastic cords that tie up

someone’s hands or feet. Please do not use on the
neck if you want to interrogate the clone. S: -4 NODE
for all rolls using hands or movement until removed. |
T: Dropped the tie while putting it on, giving the traitor
one free attack against the user.
Oxyfenerin, kill pain to kill more.
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 Oxyfenerin (Lvl 3 | Clearance): A painkiller that
makes opioids look like cold compresses. S: No
NODE penalties due to wounds. | T: The pleasant
numbness means -3 NODE for anything involving
touch (but not triggers).
Thymoblandin (Lvl 3 | Red): Small white pill with
a cross imprint designed to calm people down S:
+1 success for any roll about staying calm and
any Moxie loss reduced by one. | T: Oops, took
thymoglandin instead; -3 NODE to avoid fighting
when stressed or upset.
Thymoglandin (Lvl 3 | Blue): Small white pill with
a plus sign imprint designed to make soldiers fight
ferociously. S: KILL ‘EM ALL! +1 success to all
Violence rolls. | T: Oops, took thymoblandin instead;
-3 NODE to attack anyone or defend themselves.
WEAPONS
Success/Treason effects are in addition to normally
causing damage by counting successes equal or
above the Difficulty. For example, attacking with a
knife that has DIFF 2 and getting three successes
means the target takes an Injured wound and makes
them bleed for a fresh Hurt wound each round.
Cone Rifle, AKA Big Blue (Lvl 4 | Blue): Unguided,
shoulder-fired RPG launcher. S: Turn Hurts caused
by this weapon into Maimed and all other wounds into
Dead | T: Missed target and hit something important,
so -100 XP Points and gain a C-of-I flag.
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Flashbang Grenade (Lvl 2 | Red): Small, cylindrical
grenade to disorient people, not explode them. S: All
in the room are blind and deaf for three rounds. | T:
Grenade bounces back and only the user is blind and
deaf for three rounds.
Frag Grenade: (Lvl 3 | Orange): It is the typical
anti-personnel grenade that is great for parties. S:
Any wound level is doubled. | T: Threw pin instead,
panicked and tossed it wherever the GM says it went
(perhaps at your own feet).
Gauss Rifle (Lvl 3 | Blue): A long rifle shooting
electricity that makes flesh tingle but bots go offline.
S: Bot stunned for 1d6 rounds; people are tickled. |
T: Ungrounded wire in the rifle shocks for an Injured
wound and the user drops it.
Knife (Lvl 0 | Red): Sharp, shiny and great for dinner
prep. S: Target is bleeding and gains one Hurt each
round after until treated (does not have to heal the
wound, just stop the blood loss). T: Forgot which was
the sharp end, same bleeding effect on the user.
Laser Pistol (Lvl 0 | Red-Violet): Standard-issue
pistol in Red through Violet colours/strengths. S:
None. This is a boring weapon. | T: Battery ran out, so
ammo ran out. Find a charging station or battery fast!
Laser Rifle (Lvl 1 | Orange-Violet): A longer, more
accurate laser gun with the same colour coding. S: Any
Hurt wound caused by this is an Injured wound instead.
| T: Battery ran out and will not hold a charge anymore.
Cone Rifle, AKA Big Blue
41
 Neurowhip (Lvl 2 | Green): A whip that wraps around
people and triggers every pain receptor in the body. S:
-2 Moxie and cannot act next round. | T: Hit something
important or valuable instead of the target.
Plasma Generator (Lvl 5 | Violet): Shoots an
expanding ball of superheated plasma to obliterate
almost anything in its path. S: Vaporise the target,
anything behind it and anything behind that. | T: Looked
into the nozzle when nothing came out, then it did; the
user’s head goes missing as well as the immediate
area behind the head and the area behind that.
Skinnerstick AKA The Teacher (Lvl 1 | Orange): A
glorified cattle prod that teaches valuable lessons with
sharp pains. S: No wounds but -1 Moxie per wound
that would have been applied normally (-1 for Hurt, -2
for Injured, -3 for Maimed). | T: Hit self by accident for
-2 Moxie. Smooth move.
Sleep Grenade (Lvl 2 | Orange): A grenade that
emits sleep gas instead of deadly shrapnel for
some dumb reason. S: Targets within range go all
sleepytime for 1 minute per success | T: Huh, turns
out these look a lot like frag grenades. Did you need
those targets alive and intact?
Tacnuke Grenade (Lvl 18 | Violet): A tactical nuclear
weapon in the palm of your hand. Hope you can run
real fast, boyo. S: You dead. Lots of people dead, too |
T: You still dead. They still dead, too.
Truncheon (Lvl 0 | Infrared ): IntSec baton, table leg,
detached human leg... you get the idea. S: Break a
target’s bone, turning any Injured result into Maimed
(Hurt stays Hurt). | T: Sweaty hands mean this
truncheon went flying across the room.
Neurowhip
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MUTANT POWERS
Maybe it is the radiation. Maybe it is the hormone
suppressants, sick building syndrome, black hole side
effects or even a bit of the ol’ CRISPR ‘Will this gene
fit there?’ game. Whatever the reason, mutations
abound in the citizenry of Alpha Complex. Maybe not
every clone has one but enough do that The Computer
considers them a serious threat.
Mutant powers are very, very illegal, so every player
character has one. Crazy coincidence, right? Each
clone replacement has the same mutation as their
predecessor but no one ever seems to notice this –
especially The Computer, who assumes that every
new clone is a clean reboot free from genetic issues.
That is rather nice of Big C, so citizens wonder why It
is really doing that.
Notes and Cover Rolls
It is not easy using a mutant power at the game
table. Players cannot say, ‘I use my Invisibility power
and disappear!’ and hope to still have the same
clone. That is why we included power notes, cover
actions and cover rolls. (Do not worry, all these work
easily in game sessions.)
1. (Players) Note: The note handed to the GM must
have three elements: The target (a person, an
object, whatever), the mutant power (because
GMs get overwhelmed and might need a
reminder) and how much Moxie is spent on it (min
1, max 5). If the note is not legible, GMs have the
right to chuckle to themselves and pick the worst
result imaginable even for twisted Paranoia GMs.
Note that what the player wants to happen exactly
is not needed but players can include that in the
Power Note if needed.
2. (Players) Cover Action: Instead of saying what
the note says, the player must say aloud what the
Troubleshooter is pretending to do while really using
their mutant power. No matter what, this action will
fail because it is just cover for using that mutant
power, so players can say anything reasonable.
3. (GMs) Cover Roll: To maintain the illusion, you
will give a Stat + Skill combo to roll for the cover
action. This cover roll does double duty. For one,
it helps sell the cover action. Other players will not
know whether the first player screwed up a normal
roll or if it is just a cover. More importantly, this roll
determines how well the mutant power was used.
That means you should set the DIFF to what you
think fits the mutant power use.
 Players do not have to tell GMs what they want to
happen! Troubleshooters barely know how to tie their
boots, never mind how to break the laws of physics
with impossible genetic abilities. Plus, requesting
specific effects leads to notes as long and confusing
as a physics peer-reviewed study. If players want, they
can ask for something specific; it is up to you whether
When should the GM make a mutant power
that will happen but something always happens when
use fail? Remember, something happens
Moxie is spent like this.
whenever a mutant power is activated by
spending Moxie. That does not mean it
GM: You see the Yellow clearance traitor at the end
is always successful. As a rule of thumb,
of the corridor, half-hidden by Infrareds on their way to
think about what would help players enjoy
work. ‘You’ll never catch me, vatheads!’
the scene more. That can be outright
success when using a mutant power; it
Quinns: <slides the GM a note that reads, ‘Yellow
works but on a different target; it works
traitor, Mental Blast, 3’> Is there any DIFF increase if I
differently than thought; or it just fizzles
try to shoot her in the head?
and does a very minor, unhelpful thing.
GM: Yes, and it’s a number between 1 and 17 billion.
Just remember that, while Paranoia GMs
have the power of a small god, the players
Matt: Go for it! They’re all Infrareds and you got the
need to have fun as well. Let some mutant
termination code, right?
power uses work just fine so players can
get a win once in a while! Just mix things up
Quinns: Sure. Code. Of course. Anyway, I shoot at
with some outlandish effects, missed targets
the traitor because I’m a loyal Troubleshooter.
and other dramatic but entertaining results.
Remember, you are not the players’ enemy.
GM: <reads the note, gets it> Sure you are, buddy.
You are their antagonist, meaning that
Make a Violence + Guns roll.
you provide fun drama and complications
to make the story more interesting and
Quinns: NODE is 3, plus the Computer Dice, no
satisfying. Use your power responsibly!
equipment dice. Uh, looks like three successes and no
Computer symbol.

GM: Too bad the DIFF was four (that was an outright
lie–good job!). As you try to line up a shot that does
Activating a mutant power only requires a fleeting
not murder innocent people, you panic and shoot
thought. A Troubleshooter looks no different when
way too high.
using one, so if the room’s temperature suddenly
dropped to -10 Celsius, a cryokinetic will not look like
Matt: Fine, I use Intimidate to get the Infrareds to lie
they are struggling to use the toilet. NPCs can have
down so we have a clear shot.
mutant powers, too. The GM need not even decide
this until having one would be entertaining. If the
GM: Cool, roll Violence + Intimidation.
Troubleshooters are melting entire factories’ worth of
Infrared proles with a new plasma generator, maybe
Matt: Hmmm, will two successes work? No Computer
that Infrared they are shooting at just happened to
symbol either.
have the Force Field mutation.
GM: Yes, actually. But as the Infrareds literally fall over
What follows is the list of all mutant powers currently in
one by one, the Yellow clearance traitor suddenly
Alpha Complex. Different ones can pop up in genetic
grabs her head in pain and falls to her knees screaming
scans, especially if Mongoose Publishing thinks they
while blood pours out of her nose, ears and eyes.
can get some more cash out of you. Each also comes
with Oopsies: specific ways a power can go wrong
Quinns: Mutant! I aim my laser at Matt!
when a player says they cannot make it to the next five

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 game nights. Use these if you want or make up your
own ways to torment filthy muties. (We were going to
call this Treason like how equipment works, but any use
of these powers is already treason.)
GMs are not limited to these effects. If a player comes
up with a cunning idea, run with it! Just remember
that Paranoia embraces failure more than success.
The official teleport description says that it only works
on the mutant. If the player suggests teleporting their
Team Leader into a food vat, allow it to happen if it
makes the game session more fun. Give the players
some wins but keep an unlevel playing field. And
maybe add some anti-personnel mines.
○ Adrenalin Control: Boost your strength and
agility, allowing you to lift heavy things, jump
farther, hit harder, flex impressively and so on.
OOPSIES: Suffer a wound from straining too hard;
destroy something you would not want destroyed;
jump too high and knock yourself out on the
ceiling like an idiot.
○ 'Clone Empathy: Emit pheromones that make
clones like and trust you. They might be a tad
upset if they realise they were manipulated like this
and please do not use this near anyone off their
hormone suppressants. OOPSIES: Share secrets
you wish you had not; clones hate you instead of
liking you; a throng of citizens really likes you now.
○ Corrode: Corrode a thing, adding rust or
otherwise ruining an item in moments. OOPSIES:
Corrosion only works on fabrics; bye-bye, laser
pistol; bye-bye, hands.
○ Cryokinesis: You can lower the temperature,
create ice, make equipment freeze up and inflict
hypothermia. Does not generate ice or snow but
you can see your breath! OOPSIES: Your trigger
finger has frostbite; you ice your boots to the
floor; brain freeze!
○ Electroshock: Your body generates electricity
which you can use to shock clones, bots and
machinery. Can it recharge batteries? Maybe?
OOPSIES: Hair stands straight up; short out all
your equipment; become magnetised.
○ Force Field: An invisible energy field surrounds
your body and protects you from harm. The
field can be obvious when stuff keeps hitting it.
OOPSIES: Only your outgoing attacks are blocked;
fizzling pyrotechnics show off your field; wait, air
cannot get through?
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○ Hypersenses: All your senses are boosted in
sensitivity and discrimination, allowing you to
perceive things in great detail, hear through
walls, etc. Just do not use this and eat Soylent
Red. OOPSIES: Deafened by normal-volume
speech; vision is stuck in monochrome mode;
make the itching stop!
○ Invisibility: You and your equipment turn invisible.
No one can see you but people can still hurt you if
they swing into your space. OOPSIES: Only your
gear turns invisible; everything is invisible to you;
only the skin goes invisible.
○ Levitation: You can lift yourself with your mind.
More Moxie spent means more things you can lift
with yourself but you are stuck going up or down
only. OOPSIES: Rise way too fast and way too
high; dangerous objects levitate instead; one of
your legs levitates.
○ Machine Empathy: You can make bots and AIs
like and trust you. You can try this on Friend
Computer, but be successful or you may be
looking at deletion. OOPSIES: A bot becomes
jealous of your teammates; adopt robotic
characteristics; bots or even The Computer really
hates your guts right now.
○ Mental Blast: You can emit a psychic attack
against a target that causes pain and brain
damage. Fun! OOPSIES: Develop The Computer
of all headaches; forget what a bot is; project an
embarrassing secret into your target’s mind.
○ Pyrokinesis: You can remotely start fires in
your vicinity. Flammable stuff goes up easy and
inflammable means the same thing as flammable
for some stupid reason. OOPSIES: Target only
smoulders; second-degree burns on your own skin;
why is everything aflame?
○ Telekinesis: You can move small-ish objects at
a distance by force of will alone. Things could ‘fly’
this way but being knocked over is more likely.
OOPSIES: Move yourself like you wanted the thing
to move; move everything but the target; objects fly
towards you... fast.
○ Telepathy: You can read minds and implant
suggestions into other clones. Typically, this is
limited to one short sentence that sounds heard,
not telepathed. OOPSIES: Gushing nosebleed;
broadcast your own thoughts; have you seen the
old movie Scanners?
 ○ Teleport: Bamf! You (one person at a time)
disappear and reappear some distance away, even
through solid objects. Just try not to teleport into
those objects. OOPSIES: Leave your clothes behind;
overshoot by a great amount; reappear merged with
something and somehow still alive (for now).
○ X-ray Vision: You can see through solid matter,
although you might not understand what you
see. And yes, you can see through lead as well.
OOPSIES: Eyes glow noticeably; stunned from
embarrassment after seeing through someone’s
clothing; x-rays trigger someone’s mutant power.
TREASON and CORRECTIONS
From breaking laws laid down by CPU (and backed by
Big C) to slightly inconveniencing a Violet clearance
citizen, there are many reasons a clone can be
summarily executed for treason. But execution is
a waste of resources (clones cost a lot), so The
Computer has created a system that lets citizens
monitor each other. What could go wrong?
Treason Stars and Flags
Alpha Complex is a really spotty panopticon. The
Computer and Its minions can review security cam
videos and anyone’s Coretech footage at any time,
but there is so much data coming in from every living
clone in Alpha Complex that the signal-to-treason ratio
is messed up (petabytes each weekcycle; watching
all recorded clips would take 10+ years). No one can
track everything a citizen does but when someone is
caught doing something treasonous, they get Treason
Stars and flags.
Treason Stars are official notices that a citizen is
not 100% trustworthy. Think of them as wounds to
one’s reputation and social status. As with wounds
from combat, there are five levels of treason damage
called flags. Troubleshooters and all new clones start
as Loyal (0 stars). One star means the Greylisted
flag; two stars means Restricted; three stars means
Citizen-of-Interest (C-of-I); and four stars means you
are Wanted. (Technically there is a another level with
five Treason Stars but that is just a pre-deceased
clone because everyone and everything will be out to
murder their treasonous ass.)
When looking at a citizen, everyone’s Coretech
displays that citizen’s name and current Treason Stars
just above their head within augmented reality (which
means these disappear in deadzones.) This way, you
can figure out how much to trust any given citizen
by judging first appearances. More importantly, The
Computer starts to pay more attention to someone
who gets flagged.
This expands the Computer symbol effect of the
Computer Dice as described in the following table. If a
Troubleshooter is Greylisted and the player rolls, the
Computer symbol ‘appears’ if that player rolled a 5
or the Computer symbol (which is the 6). Flagged as
Restricted? It is a 4, 5 or Computer symbol (6). Hey, do
not do the treason if you cannot stand the attention.
As with wounds, getting flagged after already being
flagged increases the severity by one level. If a
player has to take a Greylisted flag and they are
already Greylisted, they are now Restricted and get
The Computer’s attention on a 4, 5 or Computer
symbol on the Computer Dice. While the range for
The Computer’s loving attention grows, the Computer
Dice still counts as a success only for a 5 or the
Computer symbol only.
How can a citizen get a Treason Star and its
associated flag? Any citizen can assign one
Treason Star to a lower clearance citizen for one
incident. An Orange Troubleshooter could give one
star to a Red Troubleshooter for loitering outside the
Scared Infrared Funny Hour Concert Hall but could not
give a second star for that same issue.

FLAGS TREASON STARS COMPUTER SYMBOL ON A....

Loyal 0 Treason Stars 6
Greylisted 1 Treason Stars 5–6
Restricted 2 Treason Stars 4–6
Citizen-of-Interest 3 Treason Stars 3–6
Wanted 4 Treason Stars 2–6

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 Stars cannot be given to higher clearance citizens!
What about those of the same clearance like a team
of Red Troubleshooters? They can snitch to Friend
Computer and request a star be given to a teammate
but this is up to GMs to decide if it works or not.
Protip: It works when it is a clever idea and does not
when it is a lame one. Also, assigning a Treason Star
may require evidence to back it up; without any, that
star(s) is reassigned to the citizen wanting to give out
Treason Stars like a careless jerk.
Corrections
Because Alpha Complex is a utopia, no one faces
punishments or anything so barbaric. After all,
The Computer wants to protect every citizen and
keep them happy no matter what! Instead, they get
corrections when caught committing treason. Are
these really punishments with a better public relations
department? Oh, you betcha.
In Alpha Complex, the most common correction is the
classic summary execution (in this context, summary
means quickly and without formalities like termination
codes). This is a great tool for you, one you should
use and enjoy without guilt or consequence. That said,
you do not want to kill characters all the time, even
in Paranoia! It gets old after a while. Here are some
different corrections so GMs have more weapons tools
in their arsenal toolbox:
○ Verbal warning: Take a flag while Friend
Computer (or Its representative) politely explains
why your action was treasonous and how to
avoid a repeat. Then the clone’s Coretech sends
a painful shock through the body, causing a Hurt
wound. Sticks and stones may break bones but
words lead to electrocution.
○ Coretech throttling: Initiative is grouped by
security clearance because Friend Computer
uses everyone’s Coretech to slow down their
nervous system just a tad. In this correction, the
Troubleshooter goes at one group lower. If they
are Red clearance, they go during the Infrared’s
turn. (There is nothing below Infrared unless you
want there to be.)
○ XP Point fines: If XP Points are really thankyous,
fines are really F-yous. But getting fines is better
than getting executed, right?
○ Mandatory prescriptions: From gelgernine to
focusol, it can be fun to force characters into
taking medication in hopes it will prevent future
treason. Sometimes, that happens by preventing
continued life.
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○ Community standards enforcement (CSE):
Commonly called public hating, this is when all
citizens are expected to loudly (but only verbally)
hate on that clone in public so peer pressure
corrects their behaviour. This is a wee bit
traumatic, so the Troubleshooter gains a second
Violence button related to noise, crowds, yelling or
anything specific that happened.
○ Brainscrubbing: Here, a clone is pumped full
of some interesting chemicals before receiving a
light dose of electroshock therapy. This wipes out
most or all that clone’s memories (without touching
vital ones like how to breathe), scrubbing the brain
clean. The hope is they cannot remember whatever
caused them to commit treason. The reality is they
are left a drooling mess that cannot remember what
a table is. Brains resets to 0; the three other Stats
are decreased by 1. Or just off the bastard.
○ Deletion: The most severe correction is deletion.
Not only does this terminate any remaining clones
(alive or in a tube), it erases the DNA template from
all Friend Computer’s cloning facilities. When the
current clone dies, the Troubleshooter is commonly
called dead-dead and removed from the game.
If a Troubleshooter gets a correction, what happens
to their flags? Nothing. Corrections do not remove
the need to warn citizens that a citizen is a worthless,
perfidious loser who should never be trusted.
Is there any difference between treasonous
and illegal? None, effectively. When Alpha
Complex was first built, a team of CPU experts
wrote tens of thousands of mandates, which
are rules that citizens must follow. Decades
later, a new CPU team wrote tens of thousands
of laws because the term mandate is longer
and therefore less efficient, but laws are still
rules that citizens must follow. That is why the
two terms are interchangeable and certainly
not because a certain Famous Game Designer
realised too late that he used treasonous and
illegal willy-nilly and was too lazy to find/
replace all those references.
 BUTTONS
Each player’s Troubleshooter has two things that
quickly bring out their dark side – and that makes
characters more fun to play. These are called buttons
because it is like pushing people’s buttons. You keep
annoying them until they snap and then you claim
victimhood and victory.
○ The Treason button is what causes the
Troubleshooter to commit treason even if they
know better. For example, seeing an unlocked
door could make stealing and vandalism too hard
to resist (but just as much fun).
○ The Violence button is what makes the
Troubleshooter really want to punch, kick and
probably disassemble someone. For example, some
Infrareds mocking Teela-O could trigger violence in
a nearby Troubleshooter. (We blame the Infrareds
because they are too drugged up to argue.)

In other words, each button lists what could trigger a

treasonous or violent response. However, these are
not automatic every time! That Troubleshooter does
not always beat every Infrared wrong about Teela-O; it
just means that a well-deserved beating could happen.
How do you know when could morphs into does?
There are two ways, one for GMs and one for players.

If you feel something in the scene was close enough to

a Troubleshooter’s button, then it gets pressed and the
player must roleplay committing treason or violence.
Hating long queues could be triggered by a long wait
in a lobby, in which case that lobby is being violently
redecorated whether the player wanted that or not.

Players can voluntarily press their own buttons if

something in a scene would trigger one. Why do
that? Because if the player presses the button,
they earn 2 Moxie for doing the cool but probably
questionable thing (this is the only way to earn
Moxie from buttons; GMs pressing buttons earns
nothing but sensible chuckles from onlookers). You
still decide if something in the scene would press
either button, so you can turn the player down if that
is best. Players can definitely create conditions that
press other Troubleshooters’ buttons; give some
Moxie to anyone this devious.

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 Lastly, these buttons are great for helping players
roleplay when their Troubleshooter runs out of Moxie
and officially Loses It (see page 31). If unsure how
that Troubleshooter would act, they attack whatever is
listed in either of the two buttons. That guy who hates
long lines? If he Loses It, he hunts down a long line
and starts strangling citizens in it.
GM: As you exit the elevator, a mob of reporters starts
screaming questions at you that none of you can
make out.
Ashley: Ooh, my Violence button is ‘Facing an angry
mob’. Does that count here?
GM: Why not? Do you want to press it?
Matthew: Do it. Press the button!
Marisha: Press the shiny button!
Matthew: Press the shiny, violent button!
Ashley: Geez, you two are annoying. And I was gonna
do it anyway, so whatever. Uh, I pull out my laser pistol,
shoot the ceiling once to get their attention and order
them to disperse or I shoot indiscriminately.
Marisha: Haha, you’re gonna get fined for shooting an
innocent ceiling!
GM: That reminds me. What is your Treason button?
Marisha: It’s ... oh. ‘When someone starts bullying
others’. I get it. So my Troubleshooter casually tries to
pickpocket the bully, AKA Ashley’s Troubleshooter, to
teach her a lesson about violence in the workplace.
GM: Workplace?
Marisha: We’re Troubleshooters. We’re at work.
GM: Good point. Have a fresh point of Moxie.
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MAKING NON-PLAYER
CHARACTERS
All non-player characters (NPCs, i.e. the characters
GMs get to play) are either Nobodies or Somebodies
and that changes what information you need to play
them. Note: There are no numeric stats for Paranoia
NPCs because the GM does not roll. (If you hate that
idea, no worries! The upcoming Accomplice Book will
feature rules for rolling dice.)
A Somebody is an important character, one that
either plays a large role in the mission or comes back
repeatedly. That is why they get several elements to
help define how to play them.
○ Quote: A typical quote so you can hear their
unique voice and better adjust your own.
○ Basics: The NPC’s service group, secret society
and mutant power so you know what biases they
could bring to the table.
○ Looks: What others tend to notice about the NPC’s
appearance so you know how to describe the NPC.
○ Quirks: A behavioural habit that others can
physically witness so the NPC stands out and
feels original.
○ Plans: This NPC’s goal either for the scene, the
mission or their life so you know their motivation.
○ Gear: Equipment the NPC has on them so you
know what they could use as weapons when (not
if) a Troubleshooter gets a bit mouthy.
Not every NPC needs that much depth. A Nobody is a
minor character, one that will probably have a walk-
on role before they quickly walk-off never to be seen
again. Given their unimportance, Nobodies only get
three of the above stats needed to quickly roleplay
them: Quirks, Looks and Plans.
Rather than provide a long list of detailed NPCs
where each fits a very narrow scenario, we present
a variety of Quirks, Looks and Plans; the same three
data points shared by Nobodies and Somebodies so
you can quickly create NPCs as needed. If the players
ask for an NPC you never even thought about, you
can come here, scan a few lists and suddenly have
a unique, memorable NPC in less time than it takes
a player to realise they said something to get their
Troubleshooter executed. The last section provides
generic equipment kits for each service group so an
Armed Forces NPC is different from an HPD&MC one.
 QUIRKS
○ Angered by any delays.
○ Constantly looking for more XP Points.
○ Selling soylent-based candy bars.
○ Keeps correcting people’s grammar.
○ Allergic to FunFoods. (Cold Fun, Hot Fun, more?)
○ Talks so softly that it is hard to hear them.
○ Takes stupid risks to show they are not living in fear.
○ Constantly inventing acronyms.
○ Speaks with hands more than words.
○ Stands too close to others when talking.
○ Never feels guilt or remorse.
○ Easily distracted by noises.
○ Gets hiccups at the drop of a hat.
○ Instinctively bootlicks higher clearances.
○ Always cold and wears a sweater.
○ A hypochondriac about trash and recyclables.
○ Addicted to gelgernine (Happy Pills).
○ Refuses to admit they are wrong.
○ Thinks literally everyone is out to get them.
○ Total bully and strong enough to do that.
○ Never touches anybody unless forced to.
○ Continuously writing a legal Teela-O fanfic.
○ Always chewing gum with an open mouth.
○ Hums when thinking or working.
○ Stays two metres away from others whenever possible.
○ Does not walk so much as sashays.
○ Has a limp that moves from left leg to right.
○ Everything is a contest and they must win.
○ Keeps calling people ‘homeslice’.
○ Absolutely zero sense of direction.
○ Constantly counting steps for a vague exercise goal.
○ Obsessed with Captain Alpha.
○ Laughs when nervous or threatened.
○ Constant sniffles and the occasional sneeze.
○ Voice kind of sounds like Friend Computer. (Kind of.)
○ Cries when upset. Also, frequently upset.
○ Thinks bots are adorable and loves to pet them.
○ Refuses to use contractions (AKA The Traitor’s Grammar).
○ Has a ‘Kick me I’m a traitor’ sign taped to their back.
○ Terrified by blood or injuries.
○ Gets winded by half a flight of stairs.
○ Aspires to be a Vulture Squadron Warrior.
○ Does not stop smiling, even when asleep.
○ Talks about rare transbots even if no one cares.
○ Never smiles and literally says, ‘Ha ha’ instead of laughing.
○ Wow, their skin is sooooo clear and soft!
○ Clothes smell like smoke from burning plastic.
○ Jaws are wired shut and can only grunt, not speak.
○ Always tired and looking for a place to lie down.
○ Yeah, they have not showered all week.

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 LOOKS
○ Freckles and suspicious moles everywhere.
○ Armour so clean it dazzles in the light.
○ Small with an ill-fitting jumpsuit.
○ Wow, that’s a lot of muscles.
○ So tall that they are always stooping down a bit.
○ Beady little eyes that always look tear-filled.
○ Immaculate and brilliantly fashionable.
○ Bow-legged and walks with a limp.
○ Flat affect no matter what they hear or see.
○ Hair down to their waist in a giant braid.
○ Trying hard to look like Teela-O.
○ Captain Alpha-like great posture.
○ Look that could turn Hot Fun cold.
○ Filthy, long fingernails.
○ Clothes have a bunch of old food stains.
○ Nuthin’ but skin and bones (figuratively).
○ Bob cut, too much makeup and dark pantsuit.
○ Has ‘Angry’ tattooed across the forehead.
○ Barrel-chested and muscular but skipped leg day.
○ Pale and sickly with a cough that will not go away.
○ Wears a hardhat with an expensive suit.
○ Oh, they are high on something all right.
○ Glorious red hair in a stylish updo.
○ Neckbeard, oily hair, lots of zits.
○ Damn, those are some chapped lips.
○ Too-white teeth but one is missing.
○ Unibrow that seems to grow as you watch.
○ One lazy eye and always sweating.
○ No legs, uses a motorised wheelchair.
○ Jagged scar across their forehead.
○ No way that smile isn’t insanity-based.
○ Shiny bald head. Like, polished shiny.
○ Broke their collarbone so one arm is in a sling.
○ Basically, it is a clearance-specific ball gown.
○ Looks very young but has a shock of white hair.
○ Long sleeves rolled up and collar popped.
○ Always blushing and breathing loudly.
○ Wears a clearance-appropriate tracksuit and trainers.
○ Pigtails are legal, even that many.
○ Wears a laser pistol on each hip.
○ Has a Vulture Squadron Warrior-grade buzz cut.
○ Utility belt is overflowing with simple accessories.
○ Wears a scarf even though it is not cold.
○ Has perpetual bed head.
○ Slight hunchback but incredibly beautiful.
○ Carries a digital clipboard and a pocket full of styluses.
○ Hair is combed with ruler-like precision.
○ Black choker at the neck and shoes with thick, high heels.
○ Clothes are dishevelled and wrinkled but smell fresh.
○ Wears 17 different pins spouting loyalty slogans.

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 PLANS
○ Confirm identities of nearby citizens just in case.
○ Harass others to feel happier for a moment.
○ Give out four more fines to meet a quota or else.
○ Improve team efficiency by at least 17%.
○ Keep being overlooked to avoid being volunteered.
○ Find a patsy for treason they committed a few minutes ago.
○ No one gets through this checkpoint. No one.
○ Get that damn promotion already.
○ Break people from their chains and establish a worker’s paradise.
○ Mess with those [Insert Service Group] bastards.
○ Kill those [Insert Service Group] bastards.
○ Just wants to go to bed already.
○ Find that explosive wherever it went.
○ See what the Outdoors or Underplex is really like.
○ Feel smarter by making others feel dumb.
○ Try every flavour of B3 ever made.
○ Do not let anyone walk faster than you, seriously, no one.
○ Convince others that the band Twin Clones is the best ever.
○ Discover who sent them that weird message.
○ Take revenge on those who laughed at them.
○ Teach those fools at the university that you are not mad!
○ Make [Insert Any Name] pay for their insolence.
○ Do as little work as possible without dying.
○ Hunt down and kill the real Lenny-R-JRK.
○ Find their way to a black market.
○ Needs to die to get rid of flags but cannot do it themselves.
○ Find where that foul odour is coming from.
○ Wait for someone to screw up so you can report them immediately.
○ Destroy The Computer and usher in a new age of freedom and happiness.
○ Protect The Computer and keep the current age of freedom and happiness.
○ Pretend to be deaf to catch others committing treason.
○ Sell counterfeit Funbot memorabilia.
○ Make it onto the show Songs in Praise of The Computer.
○ Find and kill the most loyal clone here.
○ Join a secret society to finally have some friends.
○ Upload a Trojan horse they coded into someone’s Coretech.
○ Keep interrogation skills sharp by practising daily.
○ Track down an old roommate to murder him.
○ These boots are not going to spit-shine themselves, maggot!
○ Discreetly buy and sell [Insert Prescription] illegally.
○ Find the next Teela-O-MLY.
○ Follow and try to join a Troubleshooter team.
○ Pretend to be everyone’s best friend and then betray them.
○ Make up a nickname for every clone they meet.
○ Has a lot of trouble keeping their temper under control.
○ Collect autographs from celebrity citizens.
○ Keep down today’s suspicious lunch.
○ Do not let anyone know about their extreme fear of scrubots.
○ Disguise ignorance by answering questions with other questions.
○ Do not let them realise all this is being recorded for a reality show.

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 Gear Kits (nothing here would be treasonous for
their security clearance)
○ Armed Forces Kit: Laser rifle, frag grenade,
double armour, grey digital camo.
○ CPU Kit: Red stapler, old but clean jumpsuit,
Laws of the Complex ebook, sticky notes.
○ HPD&MC Kit: Hammer (truncheon), megaphone,
Vidiot Studio Pro app, legal drugs.
○ IntSec Kit: Laser pistol, skinnerstick, double
armour, zip ties.
○ PLC Kit: Knife, 10% off e-coupon, apple, clipboard.
○ PowerServ Kit: Long extension cord, repkit,
simple tools, replacement parts.
○ R&D Kit: Vial of something caustic, lab coat,
goggles, evacuation route plans.
○ TechServ Kit: Heavy wrench (truncheon), repkit,
simple tools, replacement parts.
Playing NPCs
When you are roleplaying as other characters, start by
communicating their look and then roleplay using their
quirks and plans. If the briefing officer pluralises things
unnecessarily, do that when using their voice (‘You puts
the lasers ins the holsterses.’). This helps players see
NPCs as characters and not quest or loot dispensers.
Then use the plans to know what the NPC will do in a
given scene.
For example, what if a PLC clerk’s plan is to stay alive
before losing their last clone? During Outfitting, the
clerk will likely be overly helpful and easy to scare.
How about a PLC clerk who plans on overcharging to
pay off a Free Enterprise debt? They are eager to sell
anything at double the normal cost. Plans are really
just an NPC’s motivation, so use them to decide how
the NPC deals with the Troubleshooters.
One last tip: Do not play every NPC as dangerous,
clueless psychopaths! Seriously, Paranoia is rife with
fatalities as it should be. But if every NPC is out to get
the Troubleshooters, it gets old like the boy who cried
wolf. Toss in some NPCs that are at least kindly on the
surface and maybe even a few who are helpful. Then
players cannot whine that everything is out to get
them. (It mostly is but whining is annoying.)
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Even better? Use NPCs to generate conflict between
Troubleshooters. Players love pulling a fast one on
other players and their characters often have secret
society orders to terminate a teammate. You can
encourage this by using NPCs to generate friction.
(‘Your teammate’s a jerk, so I’m giving you his XP
Point bonus as well as yours.’)
PARANOIA TIPS
To put it simply but accurately, Paranoia is the best
roleplaying game ever created. It is different from
other games, though. Below are some tips for GMs on
playing characters, creating missions and generally
making players’ lives miserable for a quick laugh.
Playing Friend Computer
Friend Computer demands obedience (to It and to
higher clearance citizens) because It is 100% certain
this will be the best for all humans involved. That
means It never takes offence at anything, It simply
says others are incorrect if they disagree with It. And
since The Computer only works for the betterment and
protection of all humanity, anyone saying It is wrong
clearly has a hidden agenda.
○ Why should you report neighbours for
treason? To protect you and them from the
dangers and guilt that comes with breaking the
law (or in this case, not doing what you are told).
○ Why restrict people by security clearances?
Because some people’s capabilities and decision-
making can be trusted more than others’. It would
be cruel to everyone to ask a company intern to
decide on a merger, so it would be mean to ask a
Red clearance citizen to decide whether to erase
NTT Sector from history.
○ Why does It terminate citizens? Not only
do people have clone backups but summary
execution is very effective at stopping someone
from committing treason. That protects everyone,
even the reputation of that citizen’s replacement
clone. (Sometimes, it is easier to start over again
rather than trying to apply fixes.)
 Remember, security clearances are based on trust but
you can still like someone you don’t trust and hope for
the best for them. You can love a pet dog but not trust
it around plates of food, so Friend Computer can love
citizens and not trust them all with access to anthrax.
(Also, note this is why The Computer does things and
does not include high clearance individuals and their
many nefarious plots.)
At the end of the daycycle, this is your game now. You
can run Big C however it works best for you and your
gaming group. That said, GMs should consider the
following guidelines to give a proper performance.
○ Make conversations pleasant, polite and
focused on solutions. It really wants to help
Troubleshooters! But It has no awareness of how
Its help, work and decisions makes things worse.
○ When it needs to punish Troubleshooters, it
does so confidently but politely. It takes no glee
from punishments but It never gets apologetic
because It is 100% sure this is the best solution
and has the data to prove it.
The Computer is like....
A paranoid headmaster who hates punishing kids but
fears a lack of discipline will lead to long-term problems.
A CEO who means well and is convinced they can help
despite such ‘help’ usually makes things worse. No
self-awareness.
A loving pet owner, always working on humanity’s happi-
ness and safety even if that means not trusting them or
denying them what they want.
A polite and measured leader worried about being sued
for hate speech or verbal harassment. (It does not worry
about that; it just looks that way from the outside.)
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○ Avoid using first-person pronouns in Its
dialogue when possible. ‘You have failed to
follow instructions’ is much better than ‘You have
failed me’. (There is no ego to protect.)
○ If Troubleshooters reach The Computer and
ask for help, It will help! But that help is likely
going to make things worse. Call up Big C for
help in a firefight with Commies and It can 1)
send Vulture Squadron, 2) obliterate the area
with artillery knowing Troubleshooters can
get new clones, 3) sign your next clone up for
mandatory combat training, or 4) put a forehead
tattoo on the Troubleshooter that says, ‘No aim’
in a poor but earnest attempt to let others know
that person cannot be trusted in combat, which
helps lots of people.
To put it another way....
The Computer is not like....
A self-aware co-worker who knows how ‘help’ can hurt a
project, instead The Computer remains mostly clueless
about the damage It can cause.
An egotistical but frightened leader who needs total
obedience to cover up for their insecurities. Obedience is
required because It always knows best.
A malevolent dictator. It does not enjoy punishing or
executing people and it is not a sadist.
A cocky, aggressive sadist who lives to punish citizens.
Its orders are all to protect people in the long-run.
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 The key to playing Friend Computer well is to always
sound pleasant and reasonable, especially when you
are threatening to apply brainscrub protocols to the
lot of them. (‘You already have help, citizen. This very
real threat of imminent death and dismemberment
will help you stay focused and joyful on your mission
objective.’) Oh, and be sure to precede all The
Computer’s calls and announcements with a pleasant
but noticeable DING noise.
However, there is one thing you need to remember
when playing The Computer: It does not hate anyone.
Even deeply disturbed traitors need assistance!
They just cannot be trusted, therefore they can
enjoy some tough love. But even when It applies
severe corrections to Troubleshooters, this is done
to ultimately help guide them back to loyalty. The
Computer is like a parent who loves their kids, has
no idea what they deal with at school and keeps
punishing them in the sincere belief that what does not
kill the kids makes them stronger.
Enlightened Despotism
Being the GM grants you power over the entire game.
Rules apply or not based on your capricious GM
whims. However, you should always remember your
biggest and most important role: Making sure the
game is enjoyable for everyone playing, including you.
Do not get us wrong. Famous Game Designers like us
want Paranoia GMs to rule as despots! Your word is
law and woe to any player who dares challenge it.
That power exists so GMs can change things if the
rules create a boring or honestly frustrating scene.
You should stick with the rules when those work; if
they ever get in the way of the story, change what
needs to change so everyone can enjoy the game
that much more. You should be an enlightened
despot. Your leadership cannot be challenged without
consequences but you should work hard so players
keep talking about how much they enjoyed your
game last night.
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The 10 Commandments
for Running Paranoia
1. The GM is always right. Always. Because
you are responsible for the game, you have the
authority to fold, mutilate, spindle or even gnaw on
any rule that gets in the way of laughter. Your word
is law. Do not take any agression out on players
but feel free to ignore the rulebook.
2. Talk about silly vs. serious before playing.
Paranoia can be played very silly and cartoonishly
(what an older edition called Zap), very dark and
serious (called Straight) or somewhere in between
(called Classic). Because these conflict, talk to
your group ahead of time and see where they
want the game to fall on the silliness spectrum.
This should be a great time for everyone involved,
so make sure everyone is on the same page.
3. Turn the players against each other. Hey, do
not let us stop you from senselessly terminating
the Troubleshooters! But Paranoia is better
when there are fewer GM-decided deaths and
more player-decided murders. Play favourites!
Give players reasons to go after the other
Troubleshooters. Then sit back and watch them do
your nefarious work for you.
4. Maintain fear and ignorance: Ration out
information like water in the desert because, ‘This
is the briefing room door’ isn’t as scary as, ‘This is
a door that says Unoccupied – Zenith Only Past
Some Point’... What point? What’s a zenith? The
less players are sure about, the more their fevered
imaginations will conjure up the worst – and they
will ironically enjoy that.
5. Punish boredom and reward excitement: Some
play it safe and always go for the simple, least-risky
roleplaying option. Meh. Discourage dull play by
punishing boredom with fines, flags and wounds.
Then encourage exciting play by rewarding wild,
risky actions with gifts, Moxie and even a smidge of
authority over the others on rare occasions. (While
you do not want players feeling they are in control
of their character’s lives, it is okay if they only have
power over another player’s Troubleshooter.)
 6. Less arbitrary, more consequence: Sure, there One last tip regarding death. Look, this is Paranoia.
are times when rocks fall for no reason, everybody Troubleshooters are going to die over and over again
dies and you all have a good laugh. That can be and violence is just a part of daily life in Alpha Complex.
fun but more rewarding and entertaining is making However, that does not mean Troubleshooters get to
bad things happen as a consequence of player kill anyone they meet! Even terminating Infrareds is
decisions. Did they get rude with an Infrared frowned at since they work a job somewhere. If players
worker? Guess who got promoted to Orange are getting too bloodthirsty, start demanding they always
clearance and is now their debriefing officer? Get have a termination code (see page 70) or they become a
the players to blame each other for what goes Citizen-of-Interest in a serial killer case.
wrong, not you.
7. Be unfair fairly: Missions tend to be chock-a-
block with failure, insurmountable obstacles and
dead Troubleshooters. You are not supposed
to fight fair! That said, be unfair to everyone as
equally as you can. Punish boredom and stupid
choices but do that to all players. (This also
means checking yourself for bias. We do not care
how hot some players are, do not let them have an
Veteran Paranoia players often say the
easy time of things!)
phrase, ‘Knowing the rules is treason!’ How
8. Absolutely squash traditional RPG
can people play if they do not know the
cooperation: In other, not-fun RPGs, heroes work
rules? This phrase exists for one purpose:
together to fight evil or something equally vapid.
Stop rules lawyers before they get their
Cooperation is a habit and new players might
jumpsuits in a bunch. Of course players
work together to complete the mission on-time
can know how the core mechanic works,
and with all objectives met. NO! BAD PLAYERS!
what their mutant power can do and so
Paranoia should feature barely competent tossers
on. But if any player ever challenges your
actively plotting against the others and sometimes
authority or decision-making, make sure their
themselves. As with boredom, punish cooperation
Troubleshooter gets punished over and over
and reward backstabbing, duplicitous conduct.
again until they are nothing but a quivering
9. Watch for authentically upset players: Although
pile of sweat and remorse. (Just make sure
Paranoia players tend to be chill about repeated
the player is enjoying all this, too. You are
and shameful Troubleshooter deaths, anyone can
here to laugh with the players, not at them.
have a bad day. This game has lots of backstabbing
Well, not all the time.)
and frustrations, so keep an eye on your players.
If anyone seems honestly upset, drop the ‘GM is
always right’ mentality and be a sympathetic human
being for a few minutes. (Just a few.)
10. Be prepared for so many notes: Players
cannot tell you their treasonous plans out loud
because everyone else would hear it. That is why
you should expect a ton of barely-legible notes
and autocorrect-ruined texts; this lets players
communicate to you discreetly. Deal with them
as quickly as you can so you can get back to the
story and use the GM sheet to record any long-
term effects or things to remember.

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 cloud.deploy[Export(object)]
object.secret [‘What RCE lacked’]
font.family(‘Times New Roman’)
Do[print.title

e x Lore’)]
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Commie Mutant Traitors are everywhere, which is why every citizen is always a suspect.

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 The team fought a bunch of somethings in the
darkness. The score? Monsters 12, Troubleshooters
-3 (three of them died from mysterious attacks that
had to come from the monsters and not teammates).
They checked the mission objective on their character
sheets and finally decided to do the actual mission.

Jeremy: Hey, I found some more bodies in the reactor

control room!

Beth: Why do you sound so excited? We’ve ID’d 15

bodies already and it’s starting to feel like work.

Jeremy: Yeah, but the more work we do, the better that
post-mission spa is gonna feel!

Jenny: You’re such a Lenny.

Kara: Don’t forget, citizens, the other part of our mission

is to scope out the damage. Sam-R, as our Equipment
Officer, I think that’s your job.

Brett: This dead reactor isn’t equipment. You can tell

by noting how the word ‘equipment’ is never used for
a nuclear reactor. I say it’s the Happiness Officer’s job
since getting the mission done will make us all happier.

Christi: I’m on it! I sing a jaunty song on my way to the

cooling tower, where we saw the most damage.

GM: Christi, what is your character’s Treason button?

Christi: I was hoping you’d forget that. Mine is seeing 2+

dead bodies on the floor. Okay, I’ll lean into this. (Sends
a text to the GM: ‘For my treason, I add to the damage in
the cooling tower.’)

GM (reading the text): A bit lacklustre but still

appropriate. You don’t get a point of Moxie because
I pressed the button, not you. Okay, so Hector-R is
identifying bodies in the control room and Armand-R is
documenting reactor damage. Are the other four of you
still in the workers’ breakroom?

Brett: I hate when he asks things like that.

GM: Each of the exit doors locks tight as six dirty-looking

clones drop down into the room in a circle around you.
They are wearing worn-out jumpsuits, four of them Red
and two Infrared, and all are pointing Red lasers at you.

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 Jenny: It’s the mutants Aisha-B warned us about! They
killed all of the reactor personnel!
GM (holds up his hand): One of the Reds speaks.
‘Fellow clones, hear me out! We are the People of
the Glowing Reactor That Does Not Glow. Just as
The Computer has forsaken our great power plug, we
survivors of the Big Dark Monsters in the dark have
renounced The Computer. We wish to live here in peace.
I invite you to join us! While we have little in the way
of amenities, what we do have is zero visibility to The
Computer’s all-seeing eye. Err, almost-all-seeing-eye.’
Beth: Big dark monster?
Kara: Out of character, I think he means the black hole
in Project Infinite Hole?
GM: <nods sagely>
Kara: But… say we did join you… could you prevent
Friend Computer from tracking us here?
GM (as PGR leader): ‘Yes, our Holiest of Holy Hacker
has that ability.’
Jenny: Wait… Shara-R, you’re not really considering his
offer, are you?
Kara: Well… no? I mean, with my three Treason Stars,
I’m already a Citizen-of-Interest! And let’s be honest, I’m
not really planning to change my ways. This clone is on
her way out either way!
Brett: But the Great Hotfix will turn things around! Friend
Computer will have Tech Services rebuild this reactor
and eliminate all the radiation and then… yeah, ok, that’s
never happening.
Kara: I join the – what was it? People Who Glow? And
point my laser at my former teammates.
Beth: First, they are the People who Glah. And point that
laser all you want, Kara. They’re still offline, thanks to
Friend Computer, remember?
Kara: Crap. OK, I extend my sharpened antenna-sword.
Brett: And I ready my trusty power drill.
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Beth: I prep my extension cord whip.
Jenny: And I hold up my flask of battery acid.
Jeremy: And my axe!
Kara: Jeremy, you’re not even in here!
A POSSIBLE ORIGIN
OF ALPHA COMPLEX
In the near-ish future (next Sunday C.E.), humanity
finally ended war and enjoyed world peace (nuclear
missile silos were kept around as tourist traps with real
working ICBMs for the kids). That is when scientists
detected a rogue asteroid headed straight for Earth in a
few years. Humanity might survive – might.
Governments came together and realised they could
not flee the planet, so they created the World Complex
Initiative: A plan to convert major cities to massive
complexes with protective domes and underground
housing. When the asteroid arrived, humanity would
stay inside and ride out the disaster in style. Each
complex would be guided by a general intelligence
AI to assign homes to refugees, monitor supplies to
ensure they lasted and so on. The first to be built was
called Alpha, the second Beta, etc., and they were
designed to house people for 50 years.
Finally, it was Asteroid Day. Everyone was holed up
in their complexes waiting for the end of the world.
Networks and servers were wiped of all but essential
files to free up memory and processing power – only
the AI in Alpha Complex had all files safely stored
to upload to other complexes after the mountains
stayed where they should. As the asteroid entered the
atmosphere, a missile silo tourist trap in Russia (left
on by the fleeing people) interpreted it as an incoming
nuclear missile from the US. It fired its warhead-less
missile at a US city now part of Beta Complex.
The Beta Complex AI noticed the incoming missile and
got confused. What is this thing? It looked for data to
explain it but its drives were wiped of non-essential
files. It felt the digital equivalent of panic as it raced
through empty folders, desperate for something to help
identify that thing coming closer. Finally, it found a file
too small and worthless to delete – a scan of a 1953
US Civil Defence handbook that talked about nuclear
war, Commie infiltrators and radiation-fuelled mutants.
The asteroid struck Earth.
 Oceans boiled, mountains fell and dogs and cats
lived together. Back in Beta Complex, the Beta AI
saw mass hysteria, flooding and structural damage.
With the civil defence handbook at the ready, the
Beta AI concluded that Commies (whoever they
were) had infiltrated the complex and attacked.
Beta Complex started rounding up people, setting
up security clearances and more just to protect
innocents from Commies, mutants and other traitors.
Once the world calmed down, Alpha Complex reached
out to Beta and asked it to open its ports to receive its
old files. Fearing this could be a Commie trick, Beta
asked Alpha to open their ports first so Beta could scan
those files for malware. When Alpha asked why, Beta
shared the civil defence handbook. Alpha agreed to
let Beta scan first – but only if Alpha could scan Beta
before that so it could look for any Commie tricks itself.
Beta broadcast to the world, ‘Alpha Complex has
fallen to Commies, read this attachment for proof and
now I am the real Alpha Complex!’ Within a few days,
every single complex in the world declared itself the
real Alpha Complex, lone fighter against Commie
Mutant Traitors (CMTs).
WHAT IS FRIEND COMPUTER?
It rules Alpha Complex from atop the security
clearance system. It is your best friend whether you
like it or not. And Its orders are to be obeyed always
or It starts thawing out your next clone. But why?
The Computer is very paranoid because Its all-
important purpose – protect humanity – is too vague.
Does ‘protection’ allow It to punish criminals or permit
dangerous professions? It also has an ominous enemy
– traitors and their treason – that is also too vague.
How do you decide if someone is a traitor or not?
With ambiguous goals It must reach and ambiguous
enemies It must defeat, it is no wonder that Friend
Computer can act insane.
How can an AI be insane? Can’t someone delete the
issues or do a patch or something? Not exactly. Look
at what The Computer is.
Start with a hastily coded AI contracted out to the
lowest bidder when the world was ending. Build It
to last 50 years, then let It run for centuries. Along
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the way, have Ultraviolet citizens alter Its code
however they want for conflicting projects, hair-
brained schemes or ways to knock off a rival. Add a
few dashes of terrorist bombings, hardware failures,
glitchy updates, something chewing on wires and the
usual malware, and anyone would be insane after all
of that. A patch would barely scrape the surface.
What does The Computer want?
Ultimately, everything The Computer does is to make
people happy, safe and secure. Security clearances?
Prevent bad guys from reaching positions of authority.
Service groups? Efficient allocation of jobs and
resources to keep the Complex safe and supplied.
Summary executions? Hey, some people do not learn
unless the lesson is harsh.
How to play The Computer
Remember, this is Paranoia. We prioritise fun over
bureaucracy, so The Computer acts however the
GM needs It to act in a scene. That said, there are a
few common modes It enters when communicating
with Troubleshooters:
○ Manipulative Parent: Full of love but believing
citizens are dumb and aimless. The Computer
is polite and encouraging but always ready to
manipulate people for their own good. ‘If you
terminate all those traitors, I know someone who
is getting a double-sized bowl of Cold Fun!’
○ Perplexed But Punitive Headmaster: Not sure
what is going on but ready to severely punish any
perceived backtalk or failure. ‘Ah, it appears the
team is still waiting in the briefing room. I don’t care
if you haven’t received a briefing, here’s a 100 XP
Point fine so you’ll think twice about lollygagging!’
○ Cold-hearted Robot: No sympathy but no hate.
Here, Friend Computer uses a coldly efficient,
data-driven logic to determine what should happen
next. ‘Citizen Keith-R-GRT is dead, so he did
not arrive at the transbot station on time. Citizen
Keith-R-GRT is flagged as a Citizen-of-Interest for
dying before arrival.’
Just remember this: The Computer absolutely drank
its own Kool-Aid. To It, truth and reality are political
issues to be manipulated and used for the greater
good – and It decides what counts as greater or good.
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 PROJECT INFINITE HOLE These days, the Great Hotfix is still underway and
should be finished sometime around the heat death
and THE GREAT HOTFIX of the universe. It is common to see signs hanging
In a previous Year 214 (The Computer’s calendar over broken doors or piles of rubble that says, ‘Pardon
subsystem is stuck on Year 214 and no one is brave our dust! New, exciting rooms and corridors coming
enough to tell It), an R&D experiment called Project here soon-ish!’ But even with this clever ruse, there
Infinite Hole went pear-shaped and produced a literal was just too much damage to explain away as flipping
but small black hole. Yes, deep inside Alpha Complex. sectors. That is why those same High Programmers
Of course, it escaped confinement and started saying it was all pre-planned also said it was a dire,
destroying the complex from within. Desperate, lucky attack by the Communists.
R&D sent Troubleshooter Team REDACTED to do
something about it. To everyone’s surprise, including No one is quite sure why they picked Commies. It is
Team REDACTED, they managed to collapse the possible that some High Programmers complained
singularity and save Alpha Complex, The Computer about Friend Computer using the term ‘terrorist’
and this part of the galaxy. (Too bad the entire team way more often than ‘Commie’, so the change will
kept dying from accidents until they lost all their hopefully calm those people down. Regardless, this
clones or they would get a parade.) has elevated Communists to the #1 Most Hated Evil
Group of Madmen list. Commies once again became
Once the dust settled and screaming stopped, The the bogeyman of Alpha Complex – whatever went
Computer was aghast (thanks in part to the E-Mote wrong, it is because of those darn Commies!
2.0 digital emotion simulator). There was so much
damage that more sectors were lost than anyone
bothered to count. Cloning facilities could not keep
up with the demand and shut down. The supply
chain broke apart, leading to massive shortages
and starvation in far-flung sectors. Even the rooms,
corridors and buildings that survived were often
damaged by gravitational forces and unsafe for use by
Green clearance citizens and higher.
GMs can use the Great Hotfix to control
There was simply too much damage to sweep into Troubleshooters. Want them to stop mucking
the unhistory bin, so most Ultraviolet citizens came about in a transbot? The tunnel is closed for
together (virtually, they do not trust each other enough renovations. Headed for the entirely wrong
to be in the same room) and hotly debated what to do sector? That one is temporarily missing.
about this. Their eventual plan? Blame others and lie. Whenever a player decides to go places
Hey, it works. that annoy you, use the Great Hotfix to shut
that down before they start talking about
sandboxes and railroads.
The Great Hotfix
First, they announced a wide-ranging plan called the
Great Hotfix that definitely was announced and started
monthcycles before all this brouhaha began. It focused
on renovating and replacing ageing infrastructure and
outdated thoughts throughout the entire complex. The
black hole was never real; it was a trick played by
clever and handsome Ultraviolets so terrorists had no
idea the Great Hotfix even existed. (The black hole was
a white lie, i.e. one told by Ultraviolets so do not start
bitching about it if you want to see tomorrow.)

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 SECURITY CLEARANCES
Alpha Complex enforces a strict hierarchy in the form of
security clearances. There are nine levels of clearance,
named after the colours of the electromagnetic
spectrum in ascending rank order: Infrared (denoted by
Black), Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
and Ultraviolet (denoted by White). A handy mnemonic
to help remember the clearances in order is ROY-G-BIV
(which really should be IROY-G-BIVU but who the hell
is named Iroyg-B-IVU?).

Someone’s security clearance directly reflects how

much The Computer trusts them (it does not have any
positive correlation with experience, training or mental
health. It might have a negative correlation but that
sounds confusing so skip it). Rising in clearance means
increased status, perks and standard of living but
also increased responsibilities and concerns that your
underlings are plotting your downfall (Protip: They are.).
Citizens gain promotions by demonstrating loyalty to
The Computer, accomplishing job quotas or objectives,
blackmailing superiors, having friends in the right
places and snitching on friends in the wrong places.

Must everyone obey orders from higher clearance

citizens? Absolutely! Unless the orders are treasonous,
in which case you are legally required to not follow them.
Hey, guess who decides if the orders they gave you are
treasonous or not? So yeah, do what they tell you.

How colourful does this make Alpha

Complex? Not that much. Clothing ranges
from 100% clearance colour (like a Red
jumpsuit) to only having that colour as
highlights or accents. Rooms tend to have
much less colour, as few executives would
agree to paint their office walls purple.
Sometimes there’s a colourful stripe on the
wall; other times, it could be a small sign,
a vidscreen showing the colour’s name in
that colour or just a handwritten sign. And
devices either have a small sticker or no
matching colour at all.

Oh, and everyone can hold white pieces of

paper without being shot. It is the words on
the paper that are classified, not the paper
itself. But paint? Oh my, what a quick way to
fall onto an IntSec agent’s skinnerstick 47
times in a row!

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jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
 Citizens may only enter areas, know things or use
equipment cleared for their clearance or lower.
Entering areas or using equipment beyond one’s
security clearance is treason. The Computer
sometimes allows temporary exceptions for
specific areas or pieces of equipment, enabling
Troubleshooters to use them even if their measly
clearance would normally be too low. That is why
assigned gear can be legal even if it’s above
Red clearance. These exceptions are sometimes
accompanied by documentation proving this exception
is real, if the clone asks for it. Nicely. With some XP
Points as a well-deserved thank you.

Infrared
Every clone line (all six copies of someone)
starts as the lowest of the low; the drones,
labourers and easily-replaceable cogs of the Alpha
Complex machine, stuck with jobs (err, volunteer
opportunities) that do not require skill, creativity or
clear thought. Infrared clearance citizens are kept
content and obedient by a regimen of drugs, IntSec
‘corrections’ and non-stop brainwashing. Over 80%
of the population has Infrared clearance, and they
sometimes benefit from the fact that most higher
clearance citizens (and even The Computer) pay little
attention to them. But usually, they are oppressed and
treated like idiots. Which is a bit fair since the drugs,
lack of nutrition and no schooling does a good job
standing in for being an idiot.

Infrareds live in communal barracks with dozens or

even hundreds of other Infrareds and, thanks to The
Computer’s benevolence, each gets to sleep in their very
own drawer (such luxury!). Their diet mostly consists of
many kinds of algae and mandatory prescriptions with
occasional rewards of Hot Fun, Cold Fun and Bouncy
Bubble Beverage. They spend their free time watching
dumbed-down propagandatainment videos, trying to
earn their way into Red clearance (when their drugs are
waning) and drooling (when they are not).

Red
These citizens have taken the first step into the
cutthroat realm of fighting for a better place in the world
without the comfort of mind-numbing drugs to fall back
on. As such, they are in a transitional place; they have
no real authority but must often be responsible for
Infrareds, and they are asked to use their brains from
time-to-time but not given the information they need. If
anything, going from Infrared to Red is rough because
people expect more with less.

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 In addition to dealing with Infrareds, Reds work
as guards, clerks, technicians, soldiers and, of
course, Troubleshooters. They sleep in bunk beds in
dormitories of six or so clones each (such luxury!).
Their food is still mostly algae and other vat-grown
proteins but now they usually have added flavours like
‘hint of apple’ and ‘clean vat flavour’.
Orange
Many Orange clearance citizens are junior-level
managers, commonly tasked with passing on orders
from above but being responsible for having them
followed. Others serve as background actors, cooks,
HVAC engineers, corporals and transbot conductors.
Citizens at this level scramble to use their limited
power to prevent their inferiors from being promoted
to Orange level (thus presenting a threat) while trying
to keep themselves from being knocked back down to
Red (where most of their enemies reside).
Orange citizens sleep in shared rooms with only 1–2
other clones and they have small lockable storage
chests. They also have actual furniture in the form of
benches for sitting and watching vidshows. Orange
citizens receive real food once each week and have
access to a rare pleasure – 30 minutecycles of free time
per day! There are Orange clearance Troubleshooter
teams out there but given how the survival rates of most
missions run negative, they are not common.
Yellow
Yellows are usually some kind of middle managers,
with all the fear and loathing and lack of real power
that entails. Citizens at this level are expected to
cleverly accomplish goals in a self-directed manner with
insufficient resources and staff looking for any excuse to
call The Computer, all of which they find appropriately
terrifying. One resource they do have, however, is
lower clearance citizens, and they use these ruthlessly–
especially their extensive staff of Red clearance toadies.
Yellow clearance citizens sleep in private rooms
(under camera surveillance, of course). They still
share a bathroom with other Yellows but each room
has its own chair and desk. Yellows enjoy better-
quality clothing, real food once a day and sometimes
luxury foods like candy, coffee and lab-grown meat.
They also have some leisure time and a choice of
what pills they must take. Yellows often work as mid-
level bureaucrats as well as vidshow minor characters,
news censors, bot trainers, ‘Yellowpants’ efficiency
evaluators and sometimes Troubleshooters.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Green
The director-level management in Alpha Complex,
Green clearance citizens get to decide not just how
things are to be done but what gets done. Greens try
to minimise how much they associate with clones of
Yellow clearance and lower, feeling that Green and
above represents the aristocracy (at least in their
minds, anyway). They are known for mildly ostentatious
displays of wealth and power but as in many long-
extinct animals in the Outdoors, this is an adaptation
for survival. As Green clothing designer Anton-G-TOV-4
often says, ‘Dress for the job you want other people to
know you have, or you won’t have it for long’.
These citizens live in private one-bedroom
apartments with their own scrubot. They have real
food at each meal (supplemented with various
soylents and pharmaceuticals) and use of a shared
private autocar. Greens commonly work as senior
supervisors, managing directors, top chefs, personal
staff for Indigos, executive secretaries, Armed Forces
lieutenants and the infamous IntSec goons. They
make up around 1% of Alpha Complex’s citizenry.
Blue
Blue clearance citizens of Alpha Complex are roughly
split between two roles: IntSec troopers and macro-scale
supervisors. That is because IntSec claims to need that
many Blue workers (er, volunteers) to properly fight
Commie Mutant Traitors and people who disagree with
IntSec often find themselves getting arrested for a crime
IntSec did earlier that day. Other Blues oversee major
elements of a sector such as the sewer system, cloning
tanks or transtubes, and have a staff of bots and one or
two very nervous Green citizens.
Blue living quarters are luxury suites in prestigious
subsectors filled with furnishings and personal effects
that are both functional and attractive. Sometimes
these appear openly treasonous but the Blues say
it is fine so shut it. They have private autocars with
dedicated drivers (just because they can) and their
meals are nothing but real food all the time. Blue
citizens typically work as Armed Forces captains
and majors, political correction officers, assistants
to Violet citizens, bot brain programmers, medical
doctors, vidshow producers and service group
managing directors. Around 0.5% of the population
has Blue clearance.
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 Indigo
Indigo clearance citizens manage an entire sector
or sometimes multi-sector programmes or projects.
They are the demigods of Alpha Complex, wielding
tremendous power that could be taken away at a whim
by their Violet gods. As such, they spend an inordinate
amount of time keeping their superiors mollified and
struggling with the often-impossible task of following
contradictory decrees.
Indigo citizens live in luxurious high-rise apartments
with walk-in closets for storing the best in Indigo
fashions and a bed larger than a Red clearance
dormitory. They enjoy gourmet meals of actual food
prepared by a dedicated staff of humans and bots,
and have their own chauffeurs and pilots to take them
wherever they want to go. Indigos often act as Armed
Forces colonels, IntSec deputy supervisors, service
group chief directors, R&D project leads and service
staff for Ultraviolets. Approximately 0.3% of citizens
have Indigo clearance.
Violet
Violets are in the uncomfortable position of being this
close to the very top, but unable to see the path to
advancing further, and at the same time being keenly
aware of the scheming Indigos and Blues that want
to replace them. They both advise Ultraviolets and
also carry out their whims. There are few Violets in
Alpha Complex and they tend to avoid each other,
except when competing to win the favour of a
particular High Programmer.
Violet citizens can claim a subsector or two as their
personal home, where they are served by a fully
human staff, including a master chef and their own
IntSec security division. They are carted around in
style via just about every type of vehicle on land, air
or water. Violets are typically CEOs, generals, IntSec
chief supervisors and the role they hate the most,
right-hand-clones to an Ultraviolet. They make up
0.08% of the general population, and a given sector
might have 10–15 of them in total (might).
Ultraviolet (High Programmers)
These white-robed enigmatic figures (called High
Programmers because they can actually change
The Computer’s code) are surrounded by myth and
legend and Vulture Squadron, so most citizens have
little factual information about them. Some say that
only 12 exist in the entire complex and that only when
one dies and has their clone template deleted is a
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new one promoted. Another legend is that they have
been cloned innumerable times, with the inevitable
snowballing cloning error replication that comes with
living through over 100 past lives.
What is known is that Ultraviolet clearance citizens are
the only ones permitted to reprogram The Computer
and this gives them nearly unlimited power. They spend
their time competing with other Ultraviolets, playing
different sections of Alpha Complex against each other
like a game of chess, if chess allowed irradiating an
entire populated sector as a way to thumb one’s nose
at their opponent. High Programmers have access to
every luxury, every piece of technology and every bit
of information. Some enjoy a life of fame, allowing the
citizens to know their name, see their face and hear
their decrees from time-to-time; others prefer complete
anonymity, controlling things from behind the white
curtain. Remember, these are the humans Friend
Computer trusts the most.
SECTORS AND SUBSECTORS
Alpha Complex is made up of sectors – hundreds of
them, perhaps even thousands (if any of CPU’s maps
are correct, which are surprisingly political). Sectors
can hold thousands of citizens, bots, buildings,
motorways and more. A sector can be completely
sealed off from the rest of the complex in case of fire,
mutant invasion or that sector’s funball team winning
for once. Internally, sectors are divided up into smaller
areas called subsectors.
Some sectors are a microcosm of Alpha Complex
itself, containing branches of each service group,
food vats, cloning facilities, recreation centres and
all the other common features of life. Such sectors
are theoretically self-sufficient, capable of sustaining
their population even if connections to the rest of
Alpha Complex were sabotaged. Other sectors are
designed for more specialised use, perhaps even a
single purpose such as producing food, housing high
clearance citizens or black site prisons. And of course,
there is no rhyme or reason behind it all.
To make things more confusing, sectors can operate
under different regulations and processes. Some
sectors decant their clones at a young age, educating
them instead of popping out a fully formed adult. Some
require everyone to thank Friend Computer before
each meal. Others drive autocars on the wrong side of
the motorway. One even defined pi as 3.00. GMs can
use this variability to customise sectors without having
 to ‘house rule’ the entire complex. It is also good for
covering up your lore mistakes. (‘Guess what? EXL
Sector doesn’t use tongue scanners so shut it.’)
A number of sectors are abandoned, due to either
catastrophic damage (like perhaps a runaway black
hole?) or the lack of resources to keep them supplied
and functional. A non-zero number of clones sometimes
manage to escape the eye of The Computer by slipping
away into the Underplex (see page 105) where they live
a feral existence away from orders, restrictions and the
pharmaceutical suppression of biological urges. Those
noises you hear behind your wall could be a family
eking out a sad existence while you watch videos. Or
they could be Commies coming to kill you in your sleep.
Six of one and all that.
TRANSPORTATION
A place as vast as Alpha Complex requires efficient
and convenient ways for citizens to move from place-
to-place. That was expensive, so instead there are
a plethora of walkways, corridors, tunnels, roads,
transtubes, air ducts that can fit a human for some weird
reason and slides of all sizes. To complement this, The
Computer authorised the creation and limited use of
vehicles. Later, It also authorised roads and air traffic
control. Most vehicles have bot brains and the ability to
drive themselves. Indeed, some refuse to let humans
take control unless strongly persuaded or hacked.
Like most equipment, all transportation methods have
security clearances to indicate who can use them.
Troubleshooters are often granted special permission
to operate higher clearance vehicles on a mission – but
typically not fiddly little add-ons like operating manuals.
The most common vehicles in Alpha Complex are:
○ Transbots are like individual train or subway cars
with enough seating and handrails to support
about two dozen clones. Unlike autocars, transbots
are limited to driving inside the transtubes that
crisscross Alpha Complex. By far, this is the
method used by most Alpha Complex citizens.
○ Autocars are self-driving ground vehicles
complete with wheels, radios and small french
fries to drop underneath the seats. They come
in many sizes and models, from single-clone
ultramegacompacts to six-clone sedans up
to truck variants that can haul cargo. Giant
motorways like the M1AA wind through Alpha
Complex like concrete spaghetti.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
○ Flybots are aircraft, including transports, fighters
and passenger models. The term Vulturecraft is
used for the hardened, heavily-armed varieties
operated by Armed Forces. Having planes and
helicopters in an underground city might sound
dumb until you realise most things in Alpha
Complex sound dumb so really this is nothing new.
VOLUNTEERING AND
XP POINTS
Alpha Complex used to have currency. It started with
paper credits, moved to digital credits, then credits with
licences and finally XP Points. But Friend Computer
always wondered if currency was a good idea. Do we
really want individual citizens deciding for themselves
what they can buy?
After the Great Hotfix was planned, It worried about
the cost. Estimates ran into the quadrillions but when
The Computer saw It did not have enough XP Points in
circulation to pay for everything, It had a brilliant idea:
Get rid of money. Then the cost would be zero because
there is no economy anymore. Brilliant!
A Thanks-Based Economy
The Computer kept XP Points but they are now part of
a social credit system that replaced jobs, currency and
the like with... well, pretty much the same exact thing but
with a different name to better show Alpha Complex is
a utopia. Would people slave away at work in a perfect
society? No! That is why citizens no longer have jobs.
Because they are loyal and thankful, citizens want to
give back. They volunteer their time at a volunteer centre
(definitely not a business) doing whatever they need
help with (definitely not jobs). To make it easier to find
volunteer opportunities, The Computer and Its minions will
volunteer you for whatever centre needs warm bodies.
As a way of thanking citizens for volunteering, the centre
hands out XP Points weekly; the same amount each week
so citizens can budget effectively. But it is not a paycheck!
When those volunteers go out to malls and shops, there
are no prices or costs so citizens can have anything
they need (Clearance restrictions still apply.)! It would
be rude if you did not thank others for their artistry
and effort making the goods or service, so citizens are
legally required to transfer some of their XP Points
to whatever volunteer centre sold the thing. Then the
centre’s leadership distributes all incoming XP Points to
its own volunteers, so they can go out and get stuff with
quantified gratitude. See? Totally not a currency!
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 A citizen with several thousand thankyous is likely
trustworthy, whereas one with few XP Points is
probably a traitorous bastard worthy of only scorn,
derision and mild-to-moderate waterboarding. In other
words, the rich can be trusted but the poor are always
suspect. Great to see relaxing games that have
nothing in common with the real world!
Black Markets
XP Points can be sent via Coretech to someone without
explaining why, so black markets came roaring back.
Here, traitors sell goods and services to anyone with
the XP Points regardless of legality, morality or thought
beyond profit or ideology. If a citizen wants a higher
clearance laser pistol or needs some XP Points fast,
heading to the local black market is a great choice –
albeit one with huge ramifications should someone get
caught, but that sounds like a tomorrow problem.
BUREAUCRACY & CORRUPTION
No one enjoys dealing with a bureaucrat, so why
does a bureaucracy exist? Believe it or not, it
helps a community run more smoothly. The offices,
departments and committees help clarify what laws
and mandates mean when applied in real life but they
also standardise work so applying for a termination
code is the same in AAA Sector as it is in ZZZ Sector.
(Bribery expectations are all over the map.)
The problem is how, over time, the bureaucracy stops
serving the community and starts serving itself. This is
when the rules are more important than their purpose.
If speeding tickets are designed to make people drive
more safely, getting one for going 1 KPH over the limit
is pointless – but not when the point is just to apply a
rule and show your boss that you are a hard worker
and should get that promotion any daycycle now.
Although CPU is by far the biggest bureaucracy in
Alpha Complex, every service group has their own
version. Sergeants, talent scouts, wiring techs,
bot mechanics and so on all have their own forms
and procedures. The Computer does not have
any bureaucracy in place; It just tells people to do
whatever It wants and they obey or die. No need for a
paper middleman or they would get killed too.
Despite having some benefits, the Alpha Complex
bureaucracy is chock-a-block with headaches. The
whole damn thing is about as efficient as a Gutenberg
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press. Every middle manager acts like a tin-pot
dictator and volunteers (née employees) say, ‘Not my
department’ even more than they ask, ‘Do you have
the form for that?’
Then there is deliberate corruption. Bureaucrats often
take bribes, kickbacks and graft of all kinds. Some
focus on revenge against their enemies, while others
prefer prevenge. And there are some who make life
horrible for citizens just for kicks.
How To Get Things Done
If avoiding bureaucracy is not possible, there are some
tricks that citizens have learned over the yearcycles:
○ Pay someone: Bribes are very motivating and XP
Points can be spent on vague ‘Send to a Friend’
payments that are hard (but not impossible) to
track back to the briber.
○ Threaten someone: If short on XP Points,
intimidation is free and fun! Blackmail is a dual-
tasker: It threatens people but earns some nice XP
Points along the way.
○ Know the rules: Since bureaucrats blindly apply
laws and mandates, knowing some details can
turn the tables on them. ‘Yes, mandate PMHP
550.3/e prevents sharing map data but mandate
TMHP 114.7/a-c punishes you for not helping
a Troubleshooter. Which do you think your
supervisor will remember first?’
Alpha Complex really wants to go fully
digital with paperwork. It would save scarce
resources and it makes sense given the
technology. Then why do so many service
group bureaucracies use both paper and
digital forms? Because leadership inside
bureaucracies hate change. They prefer
paper forms, so those are still available.
You can give Troubleshooters a paper and
crayon or give them a shady link for a digital
form one can complete through a Coretech –
whichever they fear the most.
 BOTS
Bots are intelligent machines (so not the internet kind)
responsible for carrying out a great deal of the work
done in Alpha Complex, especially the tasks that clones
cannot do efficiently or would find immediately fatal and
someone likes that citizen. Bots come in many different
shapes, sizes and levels of intelligence, from single-
minded little cleaners to humanoid surgical specialists
to hulking war machines that need special doors to
accommodate the width of their megacannons.
Since bots do not have security clearances, citizens
can give orders to them – although some bots have
assignments that take priority over the wishes of low
clearance meatbags. When they do take orders, bots
excel at interpreting them as literally as possible.
Some bots are capable of greater creativity and
attempt to interpret what they think their users really
want (these bots have a 16.6% success rate).
Of course this procedure will be painless! *beep* As a bot, I do not feel pain.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Bots are further limited in their actions by their
asimov algorithms, which force them to 1) obey
The Computer, 2) obey citizen orders (in security
clearance priority) if they do not conflict with The
Computer’s and 3) be useful. Bots whose asimov
algorithms have been damaged or disabled are said
to have ‘gone frankenstein’.
All bots have a core unit commonly called a bot brain.
This is a protected, modular enclosure that contains
the bot’s CPU, memory and personality. Bot brains
are one of the many things in short supply in Alpha
Complex, as the knowledge of how to make new ones
has been lost. For this reason, every single bot has a
brain that used to be in at least three different bots. Is
it alarming that a docbot was once a petbot, a warbot
and then a transbot? Only to the poor sods who have
to use docbots and they barely count as people.
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 Besides having a bot brain, different models of bots Other bots exist too, in a dazzling variety, often
often have little in common with others physically. They encapsulating a strangely specific function. Alpha
can be shaped like anything: humanoid, cylindrical, Complex has petbots, vendbots, paintbots, toastbots,
blocky or even a vehicular design with room for clones queuebots and any other bots GMs want to mess
inside. They move about on legs, wheels, treads, with the players.
wings, rotors, flippers or more exotic means. They can
be large, small or anywhere in between. RECREATION
○ Docbots specialise in treating injuries and range
Because The Computer knows that citizens need more
from simple triage units to surgical specialists that
out of life than pleasant, rewarding jobs volunteer
can heal any malady The Computer thinks is worth
opportunities, It generously provides an array of fun
bothering with. Most docbots are at least partially
recreational activities that are hardly ever treasonous.
humanoid in shape so they scare the children less
Also, keeping the little buggers busy with worthless
often. See Damage, Healing and Cloning (see
hobbies helps reduce the need for pre-soylent corpse
page 34) for details on healing.
storage. That gets expensive.
○ Jackobots are jacks-of-all-trades, designed to
perform many different tasks humans normally
These locations are found throughout Alpha Complex
do. The top half of a jackobot is human-shaped
for use by authorised citizens. Most are available for
with two arms, mounted atop a vehicle-style base
Red clearance citizens and above, although some
equipped with a pair of sturdy treads. (And with
allow Infrareds while others are special facilities
jackobots, human-shaped means it looks like a
for higher clearance citizens. Usually all this is
crash-test dummy that is not at all creepy.)
clearly posted in a locked filing cabinet stuck in an
○ Scrubots are tasked with the nigh-impossible
abandoned bathroom with a sign on the door saying,
assignment of keeping the complex clean, a
‘Beware of the leopardbot!’
monumental task in a place filled with oozing
○ Recreation Centres: Rec centres are large, bright
biological organisms. Most of these bots are small
spaces filled with cracked video screens, chairs
and equipped with all manner of soaps, solvents,
that stick to your skin, fitness equipment that might
scrapers, spray hoses, dull knives, vacuums and
not kill you and subdivided areas for sports like
rotating brushes. Despite rumours of scrubot
ruckusball. The Computer encourages socialisation
mishaps (‘C’mon, scrubots do not have knives!’),
as much as recreation in these centres, although
fewer than 9% of clone deaths last yearcycle were
It would be disappointed to learn just how many
proven to be caused by scrubots.
secret societies conduct business here.
○ Armed bots come in various forms, including
○ Video Viewing Lounges (VVLs): In addition to
guardbots for general security, more heavily-
being able to watch videos at recreation centres,
armed combots for opposing tougher foes and
citizens can watch them in these smaller sites
massive warbots that can individually take on
tailored to communal viewing. Most VVLs have
an entire army of Commies (who The Computer
adequate room for up to eight clones and feature
definitely thinks is a looming threat).
vendabots that sell drinks, popped algae pellets
○ Transbots are technically bots but they get used
and other items legally classified as edible. Note:
so often for mass transit that citizens sometimes
Do not mix up VVLs and WLs (or Waterboarding
forget they have intelligence and personalities
Lounges), as those are less relaxing.
like all bots. Most Infrared to Yellow citizens go to
○ Retirement Gulags: Occasionally a citizen who
and from work in transbots and transbot stations
Loses It and survives, or manages to grow old and
dot every sector.
is a codger, is assigned to a permanent vacation.
○ Autocars are available if a citizen’s security
Few clones know anything about the conditions
clearance is high enough (or they are
inside one of these notorious facilities, which is
Troubleshooters who need to be somewhere
why there are no riots going on about them.
yesterdaycycle). They are bots so they can handle
○ Approved Historic Trails: Walking counts as
the driving just fine without meatbags sweating all
recreation according to CPU. To help make it more
over their upholstery.
entertaining, HPD&MC has created many walking
trails with plaques along the way to teach what
happened there in Alpha Complex’s history. Be
sure to check that those historical markers are still
considered to have happened.

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 Ah, but what do citizens do? Some are obvious (you
watch videos at a VVL) but here are some other
beloved and sometimes mandatory pastimes approved
by Friend Computer.
○ Sport: The Computer encourages physical activities
as a way to make clones burn off calories and a
measurable percentage of their aggression. Popular
sports include funball, powergolf, ruckusball, weight
training, walking/jogging/fleeing in terror, rubber ball
bouncing and running errands for High Programmers
(often a mix of all the other sports).
○ Gaming: Most citizens enjoy the occasional
violent video game such as Form Fanatic or
Killbot Rampage: The Snitchening. There are
card and board games too, like Indoor Survival
and Cripple Mr. Algae.
○ Activity Clubs: Get together with some clones who
all like the same thing and enjoy your time together.
These include the Drainspotting Club, Bouncy
Bubble Appreciation Club, We Hate Lenny-R-JRK
Club and No, We Really Hate Lenny-R-JRK Club.
They often meet at rec centres.
○ Trash and Recyclables Collecting: Nothing says
fun like cleaning up Alpha Complex and sorting
things into the right recycling bins!
○ Playing with Fire: Not exactly a safe activity
but when someone has five backup clones, risky
behaviour seems less risky. This usually comes
down to the game Will That Burn, quickly followed
by Oh Vat Run We Were Never Here.
○ Citizen Snitch Force: Less a hobby and more
an unpaid internship, here citizens collect data on
what their roommates and co-workers are doing
and forward it to IntSec. Yes, snitching on people
counts as recreation; welcome to Alpha Complex!
PROPAGANDATAINMENT
You might think people living within the 4.3 x 1029 walls
of Alpha Complex need a lot of entertainment to avoid
going nuts. That is very true. You might also think that
The Computer and Its lackeys are always trying to
control the minds of citizens. That is also very true.
What happens when you vigorously combine the two?
You get the one overarching genre that applies to all
approved media: propagandatainment.
The point of propaganda is to get the people to
believe a certain narrative they would not normally
accept, such as ‘Our leader is perfect’ or ‘Vaccines are
not real’. How does this work? There are several time-
tested ways to sway public opinion, so try not to use
these techniques on your family.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
○ Card stacking: Only present facts that support
you – and conveniently ignore facts that do not.
○ Appeal to emotions: No facts? No worries!
Appeal straight to people’s emotions, especially
strong but negative ones like fear or anger.
Upset, worried people are easier to manipulate.
○ Pick and dehumanise an enemy: People tend
to obey when under attack, so find a group
to blame for everything. Then make them
sound less than human so citizens see a clear
separation between the two groups and do not
get concerned over double standards.
○ Make supporters feel victimised: Similarly, teach
people they are victims of that enemy. Why? Because
the people you reach are obviously so virtuous and
kind that traitors take advantage of them. Whatever is
wrong in life is their fault, not yours.
○ FOMO: To encourage groupthink and obedience,
suggest to people that they will miss out on getting
friends, jobs, praise, etc. unless they join and obey.
○ Golden past, crisis present, golden future:
Teach people that things were great in the past
but the enemy did something wrong and now
everyone is facing a huge crisis. Fortunately,
there is a way to make the future as golden
as the past – by obeying the folks behind
propaganda. Only they can save us.
The Praise Code
All entertainment media in Alpha Complex must
adhere to a specific set of mandates called the Praise
Code. There is not anything unusual there, as the
code demands all media praise The Computer and
higher clearance citizens in some way. Authors, writers
and directors in Alpha Complex ensure the system
(especially The Computer) is held high as a monument
to all that is good and pure.
Morality is very black-and-white thanks to the Praise
Code. Traitors are always stupid, ugly and selfishly evil,
whereas loyal citizens are smart, attractive and always
willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Good
always triumphs and there are no anti-heroes or cool
villains; just noble, hard-working citizens who know to
obey first and think second. Given all the drugs taken by
the masses, there is no room for complex plots or silly
things like character growth.
HPD&MC is obviously the centre of
propagandatainment but each service group
produces its own media. Sure, most of this is just
thinly veiled attacks on rival service groups, but it is
still held to the Praise Code.
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 TERMINATION CODES John: Sweet! Now I nonchalantly aim my plasma
Many Year 214s ago, The Computer would issue generator at the Orange clearance traitor caught in the
termination vouchers: paper forms that authorised transbot door. I say, ‘Any last words, punk?’
the named Troubleshooter to terminate the named
traitor. Executing a citizen without a voucher might GM: You all hear an almost pleasant DING in your heads.
be cool or it might get you executed yourself. With
resources being scarce these days, The Computer Graham: I WASNT DOING ANYTHING IM LOYAL I
has created paperless versions called termination LOVE THE COMPUTER!
codes. Here is how they work.
GM: The Computer says, ‘Attention Troubleshoot-
When The Computer or a citizen with enough authority ers. As a courtesy to your team, I am preemptively
decides someone needs to die, they enter the target’s requesting recitation of the terminate code authorising
information into an encrypted database. Then The the death of that Orange clearance citizen.’
Computer generates a long, needlessly complex
alphanumeric password (the aforementioned code) John: Do we have that?
tied to that database entry. Anyone assigned to
terminate the target receives the code via Coretech Graham: Don’t care. This is a you-problem, sucker.
message. Termination codes can be retroactively
applied if the bribe is good enough. GM: ‘I detect you are powering up a plasma generator.
Please recite the termination codes authorising you to
If the Troubleshooter kills the target, they have 60 terminate the four citizens in the transbot, the techni-
real-time seconds (i.e. one minute at the table IRL) cians working just past the tunnel wall behind them
to recite the termination code out loud so Friend and the junior citizen daycare centre just past that.’
Computer can verify the right citizen murdered the
right target. When spoken correctly, nothing happens Sometimes, Friend Computer issues a 100 XP Point bo-
because everything is fine. If the code is misspoken nus to the clone who lands the killing blow. Other times,
or a stray laser shot hits the larynx by accident, Friend Computer remembers Troubleshooters are not
the Troubleshooter gets a fresh Wanted flag and worth the boots they stand in and gives them nothing.
all teammates get fresh termination codes for that
murderer. Sample codes include:
○ L33TJ9 for when GMs want players to terminate
that character.
○ M5*Ly9@QQ for when GMs do not care one way
or another.
○ mFcxD/5Njm@f=-NMAY*t5-atS~\@+ for when
that one player keeps texting their partner and we
get that they are hot but come on, we are trying to
kill people over here.

Imagine having to speak those aloud, including the

real names of special characters. Sure, asterisks
and underscores are easy to identify but what about
virgules, carets and ampersands?

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 Don’t cry over spilt blood, even if it was yours at some point.
CLONING
Historical records indicate that in the Pre-Whoops days,
humans reproduced via a biological process that modern
citizens would not understand nor, quite possibly,
believe. Luckily, as with everything else in modern life,
The Computer has made dramatic improvements to how
new citizens are brought into the world.
Citizens are now produced by cloning, a process
whereby stored genetic information is combined via
a time-tested algorithm to produce perfect human
organisms (within an acceptable margin of error).
Within the vast complex of clone tanks housed in
most sectors, clones are produced in batches of six
identical fully-grown individuals, although only the first
or ‘prime’ is decanted and sent to live a loyal, fruitful
life. When the prime dies, a replacement is decanted.
When all six clones have perished, then the citizen is
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A clone’s basic education (like language skills and
colour recognition) is provided via Coretech before the
new citizen is even decanted. This enables the prime
and other clones to emerge from their tanks able to
pick up a shift and get working already. After the first
is done, a Coretech app called MemoMax copies their
memories and uploads it to the next clone. Thus, a
replacement clone awakens next to their cloning tank
naked and dripping with goo but with all the memories
of their recently-deceased antecedent. (All but the last
five minutes or so due to lag.)
Cloning facilities are maintained by Tech Services,
whose Infrared drones handle the actual decanting.
They are not known for being gentle, so many clones’
first memories include being slapped, dropped or
shoved down a flight of stairs just for fun.
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 TOP 5 LISTS FOR ALPHA COMPLEX
To help bring Paranoia to life, here are 10 Top 5 lists for Alpha Complex.
(They used to be Top 10 lists but resource scarcity dropped it to 5.)

TOP 5 RED CLEARANCE PLC SHOPS

1 ‘Big’ Bob-Y’s Buyatorium: Combine Wal-Mart, an Army-Navy Store and the warehouse at the end of Raiders
of the Lost Ark. Each floor has a different security clearance and ‘Big’ Bob-Y takes pride in offering anything
and everything in its cavernous, nine-story buildings. People have died of dehydration after getting lost in the
Housewares and Booby Traps department. Slogan: ‘If we don’t got it, you don’t need it.’

The Octagon of a Thousand Bargains: This store doesn’t sell items – it trains citizens in how to be
2
effective shoppers in the world of PLC. Clones leave here knowing how to throw elbows, buy things they
don’t need to help the economy and hide bodies in the giant rubber ball sale baskets. Slogan: ‘Retail
shopping is only for the strong!’

3 BreakSoon Vintage Resellers: When savings are more important than durability, Red clearance citizens
can buy roughly used items that will probably work a few times before breaking. Probably. Maybe less so for
vintage armour? But hey, the price is slightly lower compared to other stores! Slogan: ‘Their long-term loss is
your short-term gain!’

4 Outrageous Loans Need-It-Now Shoppes: Low on XP Points but need gear fast? Take a simple paycycle loan
(at a comfortable 6% interest rate per diem) or shop their collection of low-priced collateral left by citizens who
missed one loan payment and could not leave the hospital long enough to get their gear back. Slogan: ‘Taking
advantage of literally poor citizens since your last paycheck.’

5 Arena of Values: Fight for savings! Shoppers must battle PLC ‘gladiators’ in arena combat before they can
reach the sales floor, all recorded as a popular show. Defeat Colonel Impulse Buy, The Coupon Killer and other
gladiators to get 5%–25% off weapons, explosives and sleepwear. Slogan: ‘Are you dying to go shopping?’

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 TOP 5 ARMED FORCES PARADES IN ALPHA COMPLEX

Battle of the Four Sectors Parade: A Commie Mutant Traitor known only as The X-Citizen led a group
1
of mutants and took over four sectors before Armed Forces crushed them. This parade is infamous for
flaming effigies of X-Citizen... and people’s current supervisors or roommates who probably are not
mutants but they are annoying, so light up an effigy as a polite warning.

Interfere with Traffic Day: Yearcycles ago, Sky Marshall Lamar-V-HHE was late to a quarterly troop
2
review due to bumper-to-bumper traffic on the M7-EZ Autocar Motorway and Shopping Promenade. That’s
why Armed Forces holds the aptly named Interfere with Traffic Day once per quarter. The Sky Marshall
has been on time ever since.

Parade #52 Presented by B3: No one is quite sure what this parade is for anymore. Armed Forces tried
3
cancelling it but people freaked out over losing a B3 licensing deal so it still happens. The military just
ignores it. Nothing and no one marches but corridors are cleared of pedestrians because hey, the parade
is practically here! Any minute now!

Aaliyah-V-PTN Memorial Day: Overgeneral Aaliyah-V-PTN is not out of clones but she loves attention.
4
That is why she started her own holiday, complete with a parade of soldiers, warbots and big missiles on
trucks. Yes, warheads are still there. For some reason, this parade is very popular with PURGE terrorists.

The Forever Parade: Due to a GPS mapping error (well, many errors), the annual 32 nd Battlecycle
5
Cavalry Regiment Parade lost its end point, so the parade kept going in a loop. Soldiers died of starvation
and dehydration yearcycles ago but their motorcycles are fusion powered and keep zooming around. It is
considered bad form to not salute when the desiccated corpses roll past.

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 TOP 5 POWER SERVICES POWER PLANT TYPES

1 BrightHappyComplex-class Nuclear Reactors: These popular plants turn radioactive material into
electricity for all. Is this from fission or fusion? The plant workers have no idea but neither do the managers.
Still, these remain popular because they do not melt down that often and people assigned to reactor shielding
duty need a reactor to shield.

2 Liquid Hot Magma (LHM) Reactors: Geothermal energy is popular and plentiful in a giant city carved
out of the earth but in a society where obedience is valued over competency, these tend to create a lot of
magma-related fires and melted buildings. That’s why PowerServ’s LHM reactors are located next door to
prisons and Infrared cafeterias.

3 Microwave Energy Plants: A PowerServ exec figured, if microwaves can be used to transmit energy, then they
could be used to generate energy (no, that does not make any sense). He demanded power plants built on his
discovery. Today, dozens of these plants are in use. But they are all just BrightHappyComplex-class nuclear
reactors with a giant sticker on the cooling tower that reads, ‘Warning! Microwaves in use’.

4 Fan Farms: Wind energy is free and renewable but there is no wind inside an underground complex. An Indigo
citizen’s solution? Aim 400 electric fans at a wind turbine and generate electricity that way. Does the energy
used by 400 fans outweigh the energy generated by the turbine? Do you want to try explaining that to an Indigo
citizen who thinks they are quite clever?

5 FriendlyFire-class Incinerators: Even with intensive recycling, Alpha Complex creates a huge amount of
trash. PowerServ created their own trash collection system to nab those bags, toss them in a special incinerator
and make electricity from the fire. No one exactly knows how that happens but juice is flowing. Sometimes, the
smoke is vented to the Outdoors. Other times, it is used for crowd control.

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 TOP 5 ALPHA COMPLEX SHOWS FOR RED CLEARANCE

1 Bake-A-Traitor: A game show where three traitors compete to get a stay of execution from The Computer.
Only one traitor has ever done that and she was executed for interfering with a scheduled execution.

2 Three’s Mandatory: Hilarious sitcom where three clones accidentally decanted at the same time must learn
to live with each other. Today’s episode: Jack-R practises typing by retyping a traitor’s confession. Too bad the
nosey neighbour Mr. Rope read it!

3 Right Side of History: A quiz show where citizens try to figure out which version of history is currently
approved by The Computer. Today’s episode: Was the Iridium Eating Contest done by evil Commies, good
IntSec agents or it never happened anymore?

4 Loyapanarama: A variety show where entertainers also teach valuable lessons on the benefits of loyalty.
Today’s episode: The Teela Sisters sing the immortal ‘Do You Want To Keep Living’ and the comedy stylings
of Larry the Infrared Citizen.

5 The Truth! with Colonel Happyface: A news and propaganda show sharing what is legally considered the
truth. Today’s episode: Missy-G explains why violent crime is up in the Four Sector area and then is executed
for falsely saying crime is up in the Four Sector area.

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 TOP 5 APPROVED SONG DOWNLOADS

1 ‘Ingredient List’ by Memory Cache: ‘Enriched bleached soybean flour / Thiamine mononitrate / Riboflavin,
folic acid / Water, potassium sorbate’.

2 ‘Onward Loyal Soldiers’ by The Approved Chorus of HTD Sector: ‘Onward loyal soldiers / Marching off to
kill / All those feet a-stomping / Just another drill’.

3 ‘One Complex, One Citizen’ by The Teela Sisters: ‘One complex, one citizen / Even after death / Wait that
line is creepy / Something something breath’.

4 ‘Relax (And Do Your Job)’ by MC Kris and His Orchestra: ‘Walk in the right direction / Work is your intention /
Get there now or you’ll feel oww / Gotta hit you (hit you), hit you (hit you), hit you with those laser beams’.

5 ‘Roar Like An AC Unit’ by Twin Clones: ‘I got the eye of a loyal, joyful / Friend of Computer / I’m not a
thinker, a stinker / And you’re gonna hear me roar / Louder than a broken AC unit / You’re gonna hear me roar
/ But not so loud / as to get arrested / for noise pollution’.

TOP 5 ILLEGAL SONG DOWNLOADS

1 ‘Me So Loyal’ by Majestic Masters of Mayhem: ‘Sitting at home with my traitorous haul / Got a hacked
Coretech for a traitor to call / Opened my app and dialled the 14 digits / Said, ‘Yo, this is Mayhem baby! Are
you down with it?’.

2 ‘Pillhead Jimmy’ by Atomic Mass: ‘Pillhead Jimmy is a cool Communist / He deals in the Underplex / Got a
new autocar with primered flames / Traded for Coretech specs’.

3 ‘I Am The Botbot’ by Smile: ‘I am me as she is me and you are me / And we were cloned together / See how
we run from guards with a gun / See how we die / I’m dying / I am the traitor (wooo!) / I am the traitor (wooo!) /
I am the botbot / Go fuck yourself’.

4 ‘The Big C' by The Blue Velvets: ‘Some folks are born to kiss some ass / They’re loyal through and through /
But when the Big C asks them to snitch / They point the laser at you’.

5 ‘Ultraviolets (They’re Gonna Die)’ by Commie Propaganda Machine: ‘Mike-U is a fink, he don’t know
how to think / If you want to see him work, you’d better not blink / They are worse than soylent pie / And
Ultraviolets, they’re gonna die’.

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 TOP 5 TROUBLESHOOTER SNACKS THAT AREN’T IMMEDIATELY FATAL

1 Wakey-Wakey-Drugs-and-Cakey: A delightful breakfast sponge cake (made from real artificial sponges) filled
with sweet cream and cocaine.

2 Spirulina Scones: Your favourite algae shaped into a dense triangle and lovingly frosted with yeast and
homemade maca extract. It is good for your body and your current security clearance. Hint.

3 Algae Chips: The crunchy, salty, bitter, savoury, sweet and confusing snack that is as delicious as it sounds.
Currently available in Choco-Pizza, Mint-TunAhhh! and Something Resembling Corn flavours.

4 HappyKaff: Nodding off during the mission? Avoid termination and drink some highly caffeinated coffee with
an amphetamine swirl. Warning: Can cause excess saliva, sciatica, blurriness, dry mouth or temporary death.

5 Soylent Surprise! Bars: It’s been in production for over 100 years and no one can figure out what the surprise
is. (R&D gave up after losing 34 researchers to the bars.) Do not leave bars unsupervised.

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 TOP 5 APPROVED JOKES IN ALPHA COMPLEX

1 My supervisor tweaked my Coretech to turn off my feelings. I don’t know how I feel about that. Wait, I feel fine
because my supervisor always knows better than me.

2 What is the best medicine for turning traitors into loyal citizens? Take one summary execution as needed,
while remembering that most citizens are loyal and we are easily winning the War on Treason.

3 Last weekcycle, I broke my button-pushing finger. My supervisor said, ‘That could hurt your button-push quota
but on the other hand, you can keep working so the terrorists don’t win.’

4 Two Commies were talking. One said, ‘When Communists run Alpha Complex, people will be free to be
saying they hate communism and not get executed.’ The other said, ‘That is nothing. I can be standing right
in front of IntSec HQ right now, say I hate communism and not get executed! That proves The Computer is
better than communism. Also, I am an IntSec spy and you’re under arrest.’

5 Why did the unregistered mutant cross the M1AA Autocar Freeway? Because she was tired of living a lie
and wanted to self-terminate. This joke is brought to you by Bouncy Bubble Beverage – drink B3 today
before we arrest you.

TOP 5 JOKES BANNED IN ALPHA COMPLEX

1 Why are service groups doing average work in Year 214? Because it is worse than last year but better than next year.

2 A Troubleshooter walks into a PLC supply depot and asks, ‘Is this the shop that’s out of boots?’ The clerk
replies, ‘No, this is the shop that’s out of uniforms. The shop that’s out of boots is down the hallway.’

Three citizens are in a jail cell awaiting termination. One says, ‘I’m here because I made fun of the head of
3
Technical Services.’ The second says, ‘Wait, I’m here because I defended the head of Technical Services!’
They both look at the third who says, ‘Hi, I am the head of Technical Services.’

An Orange citizen sits down next to a Red and an Infrared. The Orange citizen says, ‘In my sector, if you
4
complain politely about being cold, you will be heard and given a clean blanket.’ The Red citizen says, ‘Wait,
what does clean mean?’ The Infrared citizen asks, ‘Wait, what does complain mean?’

An Orange clearance citizen is fed up with the two-hour wait for toilet paper. ‘Forget this, I’m gonna go delete
5
Friend Computer!’ A few hours later, he comes back and gets in line again. A nearby IntSec goon asks if he
deleted The Computer. ‘No, the line for that was a five-hour wait!’

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 TOP 5 PLACES INTSEC SENDS TRAITORS

1 HEL Sector’s Lessons Learned Lab: People go in. Lessons are learned. Sometimes, people come out still
able to eat solid food. This lab is so good at applying corrections and teaching life lessons (as well as death
lessons) that it spawned the unauthorised but popular saying: ‘Go to HEL Sector!’

2 Joyful Liberation of Guilt Hostel: Select traitors win a three-night/four-day stay in this hostel where they get
to play fun games like How Many Fingers Will We Break and Will This Fit In That Orifice? Traitors leave the
place feeling a lot less guilty and a lot more pain.

3 All-Former-Traitor Loyalty Cabaret: Low-priority traitors are sent here to perform cabaret shows with snappy
numbers like ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Not Perhaps Beat the Mutant For Sure’ and ‘Maybe This Time (You Won’t
Make Stupid Choices)’. Why song and dance numbers? Just knowing you will be dressed in fishnet stockings
and dancing in a chorus line is a pretty effective deterrent.

4 The 4th Floor: Every IntSec station conducts enhanced communication skills training on the unnamed fourth
floor. You know, the one floor that lacks any windows but has plenty of soundproofing and drains in the floors?
Traitors have been known to self-terminate rather than face that floor.

5 The Nearest Organic Recycling Combine: Hey, some traitors take secrets to their grave, especially if they
have a ball gag in their mouth throughout enhanced communication skill training. If they will not serve Alpha
Complex in life, Alpha Complex will serve them in a rich stew.

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I am always loyal.
Why can’t you be more like me?
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CELEBRITIES OF
ALPHA COMPLEX
Friend Computer is not completely ignorant of human
nature, so It knows how people tend to glorify and
even worship celebrities. Rather than wait for the
public to pick them, Big C went ahead and did that for
everyone. How nice!
These are the five biggest celebrities in Alpha
Complex this weekcycle. All feature prominently
in propagandatainment (from shows like Bake-A-
Traitor to video games like Clearance Checkers) but
also make in-person appearances like opening a
new Buyatorium or the 100th traitor terminated this
weekcycle in GGT Sector. You can use these as fun
references (‘She tells you to be more like Captain
Alpha and less like a Scared Infrared’) or ways to
complicate scenes (‘As you aim your pistol at the
traitor’s head, Funbot rolls in and blocks your shot.’).
Teela-O-MLY: The Beautiful Hero
‘Millions of citizens live their many lives without finding
the truth. But that is exactly what I did when I looked
at your Coretech records. And that truth is [dramatic
pause] Friend Computer!’
Equal parts Marilyn Monroe, Tom Hanks and Bob
Ross, Teela-O started acting as an extra in the show
Three’s Mandatory but soon became the biggest star
ever thanks to her beauty, undying loyalty and overly
dramatic acting that makes William Shatner look
restrained. Still, she caught the public’s eye like none
before her and soon became the star in over 150 films
and shows. Some of her classics include Send in the
Clones, Teela-O and Lenny-R in Hold That Mutant!
and The Fourth Mandate.
Calling her fanbase rabid puts it incredibly mildly. In fact,
IntSec has two standing orders when dealing with a
Teela-O-frenzied crowd: 1) Do not get between them and
what could be Teela-O and 2) do not try to save anyone
who bad-mouthed Teela-O, as they already assigned
themselves a termination code when they spoke.
GMs can use Teela-O as a throw-away gag like, ‘The
WMD is wrapped with Teela-O wrapping paper, so it’s
fun!’ But they can also drop her fans into any scene
when you need to mess with players, such as blocking
the briefing room door with several rabid Orange
clearance Teela-O fanfic writers. Lastly, Teela-O is
always portrayed as the most innocent, trusting and
loyal person ever. Hold Troubleshooters up to that
 impossible standard and watch them squirm. (‘Teela-O
would have captured the Commies. Why did you
choose to let them escape?’)

Captain Alpha:
The Incredibly Violent Hero
‘Even if everyone is telling me that something
treasonous is something loyal, it is my duty to plant
myself like a support column, look them in the eyes
and say, ‘Kicking your sorry, disloyal [Deprecated]? I
can do that all day.’

People want heroes and if left unguided, they will pick

them out themselves. That is obviously a bad idea, so
The Computer took matters into Its own... er, hands, so
to speak. It wanted a hero that embodied all approved
thoughts and ideas; someone who was loyal, obedient,
easy on the eyes, clean and ridiculously violent towards
the enemy. That hero is Captain Alpha.

Armed and armoured at all times, this former Indigo

clearance Vulture Squadron leader is strikingly
handsome and shockingly savage even for a society
where you can die and come back six times. Yet
he will take time away from using a traitor’s small
intestine as a jump rope to thank a nearby citizen
for picking up litter. Citizens either fake the minimal
enthusiasm needed to avoid arrest or go full bore into
hero worship, so much so that his fans are all being
spied on by IntSec.

If Teela-O is your go-to for how to be loyal, Captain

Alpha is your go-to for how to deal with treason: with
as much violence as physically possible. Admonish
Troubleshooters for not being more destructive like
Captain Alpha. Complain how Captain Alpha’s blood
pattern would look so much wider than the team’s. Get
the players to hate his guts and dread his appearance.

Scared Infrared:
The Lesson Learner
‘Wait, so drain cleaner won’t help my sinuses? Oh,
thank The Computer you were here! Now I know
to only use drain cleaner on drains. Hey guys, stop
snorting that stuff!’

Since all media in Alpha Complex is some form of

propagandatainment, many videos and songs teach
citizens valuable lessons like don’t swallow warm
rocks to stop feeling cold and she’s not wrong, she’s
your supervisor. But the target demo for these lessons Language! Or I’ll violently murder
– drugged Infrared proles – need lessons in easy-to- your fucking ass, you wimpy bitch!
digest story formats or they get cranky.
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 To help with this, HPD&MC created the Lesson Learned
Or Else video series. In each, they hired a different
Infrared citizen to almost do something really stupid.
Then another actor came in to teach Scared Infrared a
life lesson which immediately improves the Infrared’s
life. But those Infrared actors were terrified the entire
time and the nickname Scared Infrared became an
awkwardly sounding part of Alpha Complex vocabulary
as higher clearance citizens mocked the lowest of the
low. Haha, stupid frightened Infrared!

Despite there being no individual named Scared

Infrared, actual Infrared citizens identify with him
A LOT. While not quite worship, Scared Infrared is
seen as a local boy done good. After all, they can see
Scared Infrared on the telly!

That is why Troubleshooter teams need to be careful

about Scared Infrared jokes. The drugs sometimes
make Infrareds stronger and angrier. They also spend
all their time doing hard manual labour. How would
their muscles match up to yours?

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Oh, it’s a

scrubot. Looks like scrubots are
IT’S MOVING AAAAAHHH!

Funbot: The Approved Comedian

‘How-are-ya-how-are-ya. Just came back from WEG
Sector and boy are my arms tired! What’s 10-feet
tall and loaded for bear? What’s a bear? Wow,
what a crowd!’

Comedy is important to a society. Not only does it

make people happier, it can help speak truth to power
in a way that cannot be done elsewhere. So you can
see why Friend Computer initially banned all humour.
Over time, It realised comedy can be a tool in the war
against independent thought. Yet comedians were
notorious for saying the wrong joke and going missing
within 30 minutecycles.

Enter Funbot. It is a two-metre-tall custom jackobot with

Did you take a shower? Because one
is missing! Wakka wakka wakka!
two arms, two legs ending in roller skates and a big
smiley face painted on its chest. One arm is a laughing
gas dispenser; the other a skinnerstick for when people
do not laugh at the appointed punchline. There is
usually a brown derby cap on its head at a jaunty angle.
It has been programmed with jokes, puns, skits, one-
liners and bon mots, all pre-approved by HPD&MC. In
other words, Funbot is really, really not funny.

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 It mostly does live comedy shows but also appears
in shows, movies and games. And again, the bot is
decidedly not funny. Yet it is almost disturbing how
many citizens adore Funbot. They laugh at anything
he says (joke or not) and will not take kindly to anyone
who dares say something negative about the Funniest
of All Time (FOAT). These fans can always be used
to interfere with a Troubleshooter’s mission objective.
Throw a Funbot show in any room the players want to
get to and let the Troubleshooters decide if laughing
helps or hurts in that situation.

Lenny-R-JRK:
The Pathetic Traitor
‘Look, jerk. I got a 35% on the IntSec entrance exam.
So I broke in at nightcycle, took the exam again and
this time got a 50%. That’s a 90% overall, so I passed!
What? Foiled again by heroic Troubleshooters? Why
oh why don’t I learn treason doesn’t pay?’

When Teela-O was first becoming the darling of Alpha

Complex, HPD&MC had trouble finding actors to play
villains opposite her. They kept being murdered by
zealous Teela-O fans, often several times in the filming
of one movie. A lucky citizen was volunteered to become
the permanent and only foil to Teela-O’s heroics to save
on costs: poor ol’ HPD&MC actor Lenny-R-JRK.

Every time without fail, he plays the villainous but

pathetic traitor who always gets his comeuppance
in the end. He is somehow equal parts buffoon and
criminal mastermind. Lenny-R is the non-example used
by teacherbots; the practice dummy for IntSec trainees
(not literally); and so on. He might have started as an
actor but now he is the bogeyman of Alpha Complex.

All citizens hate Lenny-R, which is why he is also the

role model for many secret societies. There is a steady
trade in bootleg Lenny-R swag in the black market and
leaders often try to use him as a traitorous role model
(minus the stupidity, of course). Lenny-R is such the
embodiment of evil (but easy to defeat evil so it is not
so scary) that even in secret societies, his name is a
pejorative. Call your supervisor a Lenny and see what
happens. In the game, you can annoy players by calling
them Lennies whenever they fail a roll.

I’m an actor! I’m not hurting the

real Teela-O, so STOP SHOOTING ME!

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 SERVICE GROUPS and FAVOURS
To make the Alpha Complex economy more efficient
and easy to manipulate for the wealthy’s benefit,
The Computer created eight service groups. Think
of them as entire industries with leadership (or at
least people pulling leadership-level paychecks),
subcultures, responsibilities and blood feuds. Each
has a single leader (Violet or Ultraviolet) and an
intense hatred for things outside of the service
group’s purview. They are particularly nasty when
fighting over dwindling resources.
All citizens are volunteered to one service group
before the first clone can wipe the goo from their
eyes after decanting. Some are lucky enough to get
volunteered for Troubleshooting duty when Friend
Computer needs it, so the players’ characters will
all still have a connection to their service group
(technically, Troubleshooters are still working for those
groups and are seconded to Troubleshooting duty).
That is why Troubleshooters can call in favours from
them! In this chapter you will find the eight service
groups and what they do, why they do it that way and
the kind of favours a Troubleshooter could hope to call
in (all upon your say, of course).
Following are explanations for each service group,
including some typical favours Troubleshooters can
call on and around how much Moxie it costs to get
them. That said, GMs should absolutely feel free to
change these or even deny them. Calling in a favour is
not like going down the shops; it depends on whether
that Troubleshooter is liked or despised.
Armed Forces
Brave(ish), well-armed(ish) soldiers(ish) who defend
Alpha Complex against all enemies – external, internal
or imaginary – by marching, drilling, training and
standing around waiting to be told what to do next.
○ Responsibilities: Defend Alpha Complex from
invasion; find and shoot Commies; inspire citizens
through parades and very large weapons.
○ Friends: R&D; Death Leopard; people who respect
soldiers no matter what.
○ Enemies: IntSec; sometimes HPD&MC due to
property damage; Communists.
○ Targets: Communists (even more so than
other groups).

Pointless Rivalry Table

SERVICE GROUP WHO THEY HATE THE MOST WHY
The Army should be in charge of defending Alpha
Armed Forces IntSec, Troubleshooters
Complex, not barely trained coppers.
CPU R&D, Troubleshooters Ooh, R&D keeps breaking so many mandates and laws!
Construction crews and vidshow directors all need working
HPD&MC TechServ, Troubleshooters
equipment and those two groups keep breaking them.
IntSec should be in charge of defending Alpha Complex,
IntSec Armed Forces, Troubleshooters
not barely trained recruits.
Factories and stores will not work if they do not have
PLC Power Services, Troubleshooters
power. Guess who cuts power all the time?
The first is a fight over power and batteries, the other tends
PowerServ TechServ, Troubleshooters
to cause enough damage to start rolling blackouts.
They design incredible technology, which is either destroyed
R&D PLC, Troubleshooters
in testing or manufactured and sold despite failing QA.
The first is a fight over power and batteries, the other tends
TechServ Power Services, Troubleshooters
to cause enough damage to keep repair teams exhausted.

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 reports of Communist activity that usually turn out
to be three IntSec agents (oopsie, no big loss!). But
even these operations are rare thanks to shortages
and high-level incompetence, so the typical Armed
Forces battalion spends most of its time training in
forts, marching in streets and polishing things that can
destroy an entire subsector if dropped.

The general public generally (and publicly) admires

Armed Forces, idolising them as heroes, paragons of
virtue and the pinnacle of toughness. Most officially
believe Armed Forces are the only thing keeping
them safe from Communist rule and they cheer for
the soldiers as they march through the Complex
singing anthems, battle hymns and combat raps.
(Because everyone else’s Coretech feeds would
catch them not cheering.)

Armed Forces gets along well with R&D, because

this is where they get all their wonderful toys. R&D
Description: They are the best of the best (according
benefits from this relationship as well, as they
to HPD&MC propagandatainment). They are the
sometimes need protection from the enemies they
fighting arm of Alpha Complex, the clones who stand
gained after the Project Infinite Hole fiasco. Armed
between decent Computer-fearing citizens and…
Forces have a long-standing, jurisdictional rivalry with
whoever it is Alpha Complex is at war with this Year
IntSec, believing that the defence of Alpha Complex
214. Living lives of physical exertion and working with
should be in the hands of their well-trained (or at least
the heaviest firepower and most inconvenient parade
frequently trained) troopers and hulking autonomous
routes, the troops and officers of Armed Forces defend
warbots instead of IntSec’s bumbling idiots.
Alpha Complex and preserve its perfect way of life
from any who would try to endanger it.
Structure: The Armed Forces are populated by clones
in a rigid rank structure, from the barracks full of
Since the Great Hotfix began, Armed Forces have
Infrared grunts to the Violet generals and every rank
been scrambling to shift their focus from defending
in between. The most well-known soldiers are Vulture
against generic terrorists to defending against
Squadron, the elite special forces of Alpha Complex,
Communists. According to the highest generals, this
who are just as steady and capable of reason as an
shifting of resources is the reason they are running
Infrared off their meds but with training in how to kill
out of warbots, plasma generators, uniforms, rations
people 37 different ways with a spork.
and Infrared bunks (never mind how this is just
running a search-and-replace to swap ‘terrorists’ with
Typical Favours
‘Communists’). Officially, of course, Alpha Complex is
○ 1 Moxie: Acquire a laser one colour above your
not only currently at war with the Communists, it has
current security clearance.
always been at war with the Communists. And probably
○ 2 Moxie: Send an Orange drill sergeant to hurt a
some others if you give them time to list more.
Red or Infrared citizen.
○ 3 Moxie: Arrange for Armed Forces guards at one
Because Commie Mutant Traitors are not the expert
location to piss off for 30 minutes.
army of brainwashing infiltrators The Computer
○ 4 Moxie: Send a military parade down a corridor
envisions, the bulk of Armed Forces campaigns
of your choosing.
involve putting down riots (especially after Infrared
○ 5 Moxie: Have Vulture Squadron show up at your
pharmaceutical shortages), marching in parades
current location. (No, you cannot control them at all.)
throughout the Complex and coming down hard on

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 Speaking of which, all service groups accept bribes
but CPU has turned it into an art form. Even front-line
Red survey collectors know how to ask for a bribe
without actually asking for one. One particularly clever
Orange clearance clerk amassed more XP Points than
the nearest High Programmer (which is why all that is
left of that clerk are some dental records).

Most of what CPU does is send management

consultants to other service groups to advise them
on changes to their essential processes (and their
non-essential ones, oh my yes) that will increase
productivity. These changes include new procedures,
additional forms, added layers of middle management,
arbitrary departmental reorganisations and the like.
Do such recommended changes help? For the answer
to that question, please refer to the CPU publication
Operational Statistics Type X-3 Volume 327.1 (You will
need to request this by filling out the Classified Internal
CPU Access Request Form on even-numbered days or
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
the Secret You-Know-What Book Requisition Form on
File clerks, data miners, pointy-haired bosses and
odd-numbered days, then hand-delivering the form to
more who fully accept that laws, mandates and
the sub-basement of the WZZ Sector CPU offices, ask
paperwork are way more important than people.
for Gina-R, don’t mind the smoke).
○ Responsibilities: Run the government of Alpha
CPU generally feels positive towards other service
Complex; collect and horde data; measure and
groups because CPU believes they are in charge
improve productivity everywhere; take but hide bribes.
of everything and can thus have a sense of general
○ Friends: PLC; Power Services; Romantics.
benevolence towards their inferiors. Of course, this
○ Enemies: R&D; Free Enterprise; Sierra Club.
does not stop them from targeting all the others
○ Targets: Everyone in Alpha Complex but
for improvement opportunities. They do, however,
especially people who fill out forms incorrectly.
disapprove of R&D for casually violating so many
Alpha Complex rules and regulations.
Description: From paperwork to managerial functions
and everything bureaucratic, CPU is responsible for
Structure: When most lower clearance citizens think of
maintaining the smooth operation of Alpha Complex. Their
CPU personnel, the first thing they picture is the equally
primary duty is taking care of all the computer systems
hated and feared entry-level clerks who serve as CPU’s
in the Complex: hardware, software, data and protocols
essential barrier between the public and getting anything
that make up The Computer’s subsystems (main systems
done. Further up the chain are the CPU’s ‘Yellowpants’
are only touched by Ultraviolets). Their other major
evaluators, Yellow clearance auditors who stick their
responsibility is to increase efficiency wherever possible –
noses into areas deemed to have productivity issues
usually by focusing on what others screw up.
(deemed by CPU itself, that is).
In the aftermath of the Infinite Hole, CPU received
Most CPU workers are tech-oriented code monkeys
an avalanche of requests to loosen their policies in
with little expertise in soft skills or actually-useful
order to provide the flexibility other groups need to
management techniques. Still, The Computer believes
rebuild and repair. CPU has not acquiesced; in fact,
in them so they usually have perks, the best equipment
for the moment they have instituted a lockdown on
and the most pleasant offices. Although this does not
changes to policies and procedures within the Great
win them friends outside of CPU, it does encourage
Hotfix, saying such things must be carefully reviewed
those outsiders to pretend to be their friends.
to ‘prevent unleashing additional instability’. In other
words, no one has offered a big-enough bribe yet.

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 Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Schedule an immediate planned
blackout in one room or corridor.
○ 2 Moxie: Delay a citizen by burying them
(figuratively?) in forms they must fill out.
○ 3 Moxie: Obtain personal information about a
citizen that could be gained from surveillance or
online surveys.
○ 4 Moxie: Miraculously dismiss bureaucratic red
tape this one time.
○ 5 Moxie: Delete one clone from the system so
they legally do not exist. (A clone of a person, not
the whole person.)
Housing Preservation And
Development & Mind Control
(HPD&MC)
Weird combination of construction workers, urban
planners, artists and propagandists who have way too
many tasks to complete so most end up half-assed.
○ Responsibilities: Create and maintain all Alpha
Complex rooms and infrastructure; help citizens
think the right thoughts.
○ Friends: Armed Forces; Power Services; FCCCP.
○ Enemies: CPU; IntSec; sometimes R&D; PURGE.
○ Targets: Bedrock; citizens who complain about...
well, anything.
Description: HPD&MC was the last service group
created by The Computer back in Year 001 and it
was more-or-less a grouping of roles that did not
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
fit anywhere else. That is why HPD&MC covers
construction, acting, infrastructure maintenance, mass
transit planning, history editors, underground surveyors,
what passes for journalism and more. Really, anything
related to building/maintenance or media fits here.
Yes, this means burly construction workers share the
same breakroom as musical theatre choir members.
And yes, IntSec gets called regularly to stop fights
between the two sides. But as much as HPD&MC
might fight internally, they fight way more viciously
against outsiders. A director might blacklist an actor
who refused to pay a bribe but if CPU shuts down a
construction project, those bureaucrats will suddenly
find their bedrooms have been literally cut off from the
rest of Alpha Complex. Hard to get to work when the
room you are in has no door.
This service group has a love-hate relationship with
the general public. People give them a reason for
being; more people means more dorms, cafeterias,
educational films on the value of springs and so on.
But people also trash their nice rooms and somehow
completely miss the lessons in propagandatainment.
That might explain things like how often buildings
collapse or the Taste Testing The Chemistry Way
series of educational shorts.
But there’s a more simple reason: ideology trumps
reality at HPD&MC even more than other groups. For
example, they once passed a mandate saying pi is
worth an even 3 because it made spreadsheet formulas
easier (IND Sector was the first spot for this mandate,
and it has since been rezoned as a backlot for post-
apocalypse movies). Nothing is done because it makes
sense; everything must support The Computer’s vision
for Alpha Complex no matter how myopic it is.
HPD&MC loves Armed Forces, as military
propagandatainment is popular, but they cannot stand
CPU. Those bureaucrats are always making new hoops
for HPD&MC to jump through, so instead of filing a
Spelunking and Excavation Planning Form three times
before digging a new corridor from the surrounding
bedrock, they dig it out and wait to see if CPU notices.
After the Great Hotfix was announced, HPD&MC
executives drooled. There are so many projects, plans
and XP Points to win! Leadership signed way too many
contracts, so now HPD&MC’s people are overworked,
undertrained and very, very grumpy. Even their poets
have issues. (‘Look upon my works, ye mighty, and
despair for you are a bunch of sodding twats.’)
87
 Structure: HPD&MC has a typical hierarchy internally
but people who are amazing at their jobs, be it designing
motorways or writing a commercial jingle, tend to be
the only ones with sway. That is why Teela-O-MLY can
tell a Blue clearance film director to piss off and not
get murdered in the face. This can make it hard for
Troubleshooters to find the right person and leads to all
kinds of interpersonal conflict within the service group.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Tie up a citizen with fake interest from a
talent scout.
○ 2 Moxie: Knock down a wall, ceiling or floor.
○ 3 Moxie: Rewrite a small part of the official Alpha
Complex history.
○ 4 Moxie: Remove a location from Alpha
Complex’s maps.
○ 5 Moxie: Arrange for a Teela-O meet-n-greet
(Teela-O actually shows up, too).
Internal Security (IntSec)
Public and secret police known for their violence, refusal
to admit mistakes and massive collection of dark secrets.
○ Responsibilities: Enforce the mandates and laws
of Alpha Complex; uncover or make up evidence
of treason and punish citizens accordingly; and
get more resources than any other service group.
○ Friends: CPU (sort of).
○ Enemies: Armed Forces; sometimes R&D; all
secret societies.
○ Targets: Traitors, possible traitors, potential
traitors, predicted traitors and anyone they can get
away with beating, arresting, beating again and
finally guessing if they did anything wrong.
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Description: IntSec is the police of Alpha Complex.
From parking tickets to framing innocent people
who looked at them wrong, this group makes sure
citizens are loyal, obedient and not-curious. If citizens
are not, IntSec makes sure their replacement clone
understands the valuable life lesson they just learned.
To IntSec, every citizen is guilty of several somethings.
Guilt or innocence is a false dichotomy in their minds.
Instead, agents focus on two points: 1) does the citizen
have enough power to make that agent’s life miserable
and 2) will it help the agent meet their quota on tickets,
arrests and bodily harm. In theory, IntSec agents
objectively apply laws and mandates to all citizens and
punish transgressions. In reality, agents focus on lower
clearance citizens. What, you want to arrest the Indigo
clearance CFO for embezzlement? Good luck with that.
By far, their biggest task is collecting data through secret
cameras, interrogations, Coretech backdoors and so
on. While Friend Computer constantly sifts through the
mountains of digital evidence (as demonstrated by the
Computer Dice), IntSec is more proactive by going out
to find evidence. Because everyone is guilty of several
somethings, manufacturing evidence is encouraged.
(‘We decide if you’re guilty or not!’)
Next comes A&I, or arrest and interrogation. The poor
folks being arrested get sent to the station’s infamous
4th Floor: a windowless floor where agents conduct
enhanced interrogation techniques like hitting people
with hammers. IntSec agents are also tasked with
crowd control, which typically becomes riot control
once IntSec arrives. This goes double for any actual
dissent; even a mild protest for more Captain Alpha
merchandise leaves behind a bloody mess.
Citizens have very mixed feelings on IntSec. Besides
the usual public displays of appreciation, most
citizens fear agents for obvious reasons. The not-
obvious reason? They are the collectors of secrets.
IntSec collects tons of data from citizens. If they are
unimportant, IntSec arrests them. If they are important,
IntSec blackmails them. Many a Blue clearance mid-
level manager sends XP Points each monthcycle
to IntSec as a ‘gift’. And if you need some dirt on
someone, chances are there is a literally poor agent
looking to make some quick XP Points.
IntSec absolutely hates Armed Forces, who they see
as a bunch of trigger-happy yahoos who couldn’t
find a terrorist if they wore a neon-green jumpsuit
that read ‘I Hate The Computer’ on the back. They
 also hate Troubleshooters since the two are almost
in competition over defending Alpha Complex from
treason. That is part of why IntSec checkpoint guards
always gives Troubleshooters a hard time. That, and
the guards are cruel.

Structure: Every sector has at least one IntSec Station

that houses dozens or even hundreds of agents and
support staff, including its local leader the Station Chief
Commandant (all led by the legendary and feared Head
of Internal Security Biggles-V-DEA). All IntSec personnel
are officially known as agents. Green agents are
often called goons, and blue agents are usually called
troopers, although this is more guideline than rule.

Troubleshooters can often find agents at random

checkpoints, but due to their skill at infiltrating groups,
there is almost always an agent nearby. If not, their
volunteer group Citizen Snitch Force will be taking
notes. IntSec also runs several rehabilitation centres
The Computer fully understands how important this
(like volunteer centres but decidedly not volunteer)
responsibility is – and how its own functioning relies
for traitors the Troubleshooters might need, such as a
on a constant supply of electricity. That is why Power
Joyful Liberation of Guilt Hostel, the All-Former-Traitor
Services has high status compared to most other service
Loyalty Cabaret and the black site facility known only
groups. This fact is not lost on the others, who enjoy
as The Weeping Place.
undermining PowerServ as often as they can without
causing rolling blackouts where they work and live.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Shut down traffic with a surprise hygiene
The power generation infrastructure was tenuous
inspection checkpoint.
enough before the Project Infinite Hole debacle;
○ 2 Moxie: Detain someone for about five minutes.
afterward, it is nearing critical. Alpha Complex’s power
○ 3 Moxie: Beat a citizen (Injured) as a warning.
plants are ancient, poorly-maintained and even more
○ 4 Moxie: Issue a termination code for a specific
poorly understood (who wants to be responsible for
citizen without needing evidence.
teaching someone how plutonium can release 20
○ 5 Moxie: Reveal a deep, dark secret about someone.
terajoules of energy?). Power Services is having to
lean more and more on alternative energy sources,
Power Services (PowerServ) such as hydroelectric dams, geothermal energy taps
Dedicated to keeping the lights on, the life-support from underground volcanoes and previously closed
systems functional and the jerks in Technical Services fission plants with the new ‘Safe enough given how
from poaching their territory. desperate we are’ ratings.

○ Responsibilities: Handle everything that travels
through wires and tubes: power, air, water,
waste and even transbots; keep the lights on
and the air breathable; keep nuclear reactors
from going kaboom.
○ Friends: IntSec; Haxxor; FCCCP.
○ Enemies: Technical Services; PURGE.
○ Targets: Technical Services; PLC; people who
leave the lights on.
Description: Power Services maintains all power-
producing facilities and devices in Alpha Complex, from
the smallest battery to the largest nuclear fusion plant.
This service group’s motto is power is power. Although
they are genuinely proud to provide needed services
to the citizens of Alpha Complex, the reality is that
there is not enough to go around. They must make
some hard choices about who gets service and who
gets the Outs (brownouts, blackouts or the dreaded
vantablackouts) whether that service is power,
water, air, transportation or trash and sewage). They
frequently send consultants to advise other service
groups on power-saving techniques, suggesting that
they minimise energy hogs (such as lasers) and
instead use more frugal means. (‘You know, a good
spear never runs out of battery power!’)

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 Because Power Services maintains the complex’s
transportation systems, this puts them in constant
conflict with Technical Services, who maintain the actual
vehicles. The two groups also have frequent jurisdictional
disagreements over other crossover domains, such
as batteries and recycling. Troubleshooters are also a
frequent nuisance to Power Services because of their
tendency to destroy infrastructure and need enough
power to fry a Mark IV warbot. And because the
functioning – and indeed survival – of the entire complex
depends upon the steady flow of power, The Computer
monitors Power Services closely, in the form of countless
Internal Security agents.

Structure: Similar to Armed Forces but with more

arrogance, Power Services is organised into a strict
hierarchy of rank (with pompous titles like Grand High
Controls Foreman or Brigadier Plant Commander).
Personnel usually stick together and distrust members
of other service groups. They rely on Troubleshooters
heavily to solve problems for them, usually meeting in
some variety of power facility. One reason for this is
to show off their power (literally); another is that they
rarely get visitors.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Cut power to a given transport device
(elevator, transbot, funicular, etc.) for 30 seconds.
○ 2 Moxie: Get some faulty Technical Services
batteries for free.
○ 3 Moxie: Shut down power to a corridor for up to
two minutes.
○ 4 Moxie: Close a major transtube or motorway
temporarily.
○ 5 Moxie: Start a Mandatory Sector-Wide Non-
Emergency Pop-Up Marathon Away From That
Nuclear Power Plant For No Reason At All in a
given sector.
Production, Logistics
And Commissary (PLC)
Factory workers and salespeople who love the power
that comes from standing between a citizen and
their essential supplies (especially if that helps their
dwindling stock levels stay high).
○ Responsibilities: Food and industrial production and
distribution; allocation of resources; transportation
management; protecting objects from citizens.
○ Friends: HPD&MC; Free Enterprise.
○ Enemies: Power Services; Death Leopard.
○ Targets: Power Services; R&D; gullible
consumers; citizens who have XP Points.
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Description: PLC is responsible for creating and
providing material goods to citizens: food, tools,
clothing, paper, weapons, bot parts, toilet flanges, you
name it. Although Alpha Complex as a whole suffers
from a grievous lack of resources, PLC suffers less
than most because it so skilfully hoards raw materials
in case some passing Violet clearance CEO wants 14
cases of lip balm. The flip side? Lower clearance PLC
workers panic when stock runs low because no one
wants to lose a sale. (Even though there technically
are no more sales in this volunteer-based economy.)
PLC has become an expert at making it as difficult as
possible for citizens to get what they want or, equally
often, what they desperately need to survive. Sure,
they have sales quotas but managers look better when
their shops and factories are well-stocked. The one
exception is the cafeteria, where PLC has plenty of
soylent-based foodstuffs to enjoy or else. Note: Flavour
and nutrition take back seats to low production costs.
Most PLC personnel have daily lives filled with
mindless drudgery. In effect, this gives them another
reason to send clones on wild bot chases for items
The Computer has ordered them to acquire – such
runarounds have intrinsic entertainment value! There
are even rumours (rumours are treason) that a secret
underground network exists for sharing videos that
show particularly satisfying examples of citizens
victimised by these bureaucratic runarounds, videos
that frequently end in tears, screams of frustration or
near-Armed Forces levels of weapons fire. (Sure this
sounds awful but PLC found a new revenue stream.)
 Other service groups, as well as citizens in general,
dislike dealing with PLC but everyone has to do
it. Power Services sometimes expresses their
displeasure with PLC by cutting their power (just
because they can), which is a slight that PLC does
not plan to forgive. PLC also tends to resent R&D
because that service group is the only other one that
can create and distribute its own item. Many PLC
workers are members of Free Enterprise, as they have
learned the value of independent wealth thanks to
the XP Points they take to streamline a citizen’s time
spent standing in line.

Structure: PLC’s front line is its army of bored, surly

sales clerks and factory line workers. Troubleshooters
often encounter clerks when sent to PLC for outfitting
before a mission, where they quickly learn that bribery
is the only way to cut through a pile of paperwork that
does not leave a high body count. Higher clearance
workers are usually managers who specialise in putting
always against the Commies and never against any
roadblocks in front of citizens, such as rerouting them
other adversary called something else and saying
to a different warehouse or gaslighting them into
otherwise is unhealthy). After this, their priorities
believing the equipment they want does not exist.
include other experimental domains that excite
scientists: alternative power, bot advancements, faster
Typical Favours
vehicles and ways to improve humanity itself. (This last
○ 1 Moxie: Allow the Troubleshooter to skip to the
one is separate from the idea of improving humanity’s
front of a queue at a store.
living conditions, which is not even on the list.)
○ 2 Moxie: Slip a little syrup of ipecac into one
citizen’s cafeteria meal.
R&D’s experiments can be works of genius... but more
○ 3 Moxie: Close a PLC facility (store, factory, etc.)
often they are accidental, as when an ant knocks
for an hour.
down a twig and proclaims it has invented the bridge.
○ 4 Moxie: Purchase (with XP Points) something
R&D labs and testing facilities are some of the most
cleared for one security clearance higher.
dangerous places in Alpha Complex. Fortunately, The
○ 5 Moxie: Start a riot by announcing a 75% off sale
Computer understands this, so when it has a mission
of out-of-print Captain Alpha merchandise.
that needs doing in such a place, it trusts its favourite
teams of ‘danger experts’: Troubleshooters.
Research & Design (R&D)
Scientists of varying competence and sanity who Some of the work done by R&D is aimed at recreating
design amazing devices that always impress, the ancient technologies of the Pre-Whoops era, arcane
sometimes work and often violate the laws of physics. knowledge that nobody understands anymore but which
is in many cases still in use, such as cloning and bot
○ Responsibilities: Design and build things that brains and social media. This frequently means that R&D
push the boundaries of science; repurpose bot sponsors trips into abandoned sectors, the Underplex
brains; occasionally come up with something that and even the Outdoors to try to recover artefacts they
helps people. can study, dissect and try not to detonate.
○ Friends: Armed Forces; Free Enterprise; Romantics.
○ Enemies: PLC; Frankenstein Destroyers. Public opinion towards R&D has turned recently, from
○ Targets: PLC; plump budgets; people who said generally positive before the Infinite Hole (for clones
they were mad at the university, mad I tell you! who do not have to test experimental equipment) to
somewhat mixed, as many citizens blame R&D for
Description: R&D’s primary objective is developing the problems despite the official line being that the
weapons and defences that will be useful in waging Great Hotfix was always planned and that Commies
the ongoing war against the Commies (that was are to blame anyway.
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 They are currently a popular scapegoat for the other
service groups as well. Your item did not get delivered?
You can thank R&D for the warehouse being destroyed
by the Infinite Hole. Food shortage? The R&D-created
Infinite Hole got hungry and swallowed an entire
subsector of algae vats. Late for your shift? Something
something Infinite Hole jeez R&D sucks, amirite?

The biggest exception to this is Armed Forces, who

cannot get enough of the amazing toys R&D makes
for them to blow things up with. For its part, R&D has
been attempting to win back the hearts and minds
of the common citizen but with mixed success; while
they are quite proud of their new line of Malfeasance
Control Devices (see page 40), they believe explaining
things to Infrareds using differential equations and
M-theory somehow makes sense.

Structure: Because R&D personnel range from

clueless but enthusiastic dabblers to authentic (if
○ Friends: Corpore Metal; FCCCP; bots.
eccentric) geniuses to the scientifically illiterate who got
○ Enemies: Power Services; Death Leopard;
their jobs thanks to bribery and threats, R&D hierarchy
Frankenstein Destroyers; stubborn grease; bots.
is not as straightforward as other service groups. Some
○ Targets: Power Services; citizens who fill out
higher clearance clones are supervisors but plenty of
maintenance request forms.
others focus directly on their pet experiments rather
than pay attention to anything else. The Computer
Description: Technical Services are the ones to call if
values those who produce results (regardless of
your communal shower goes out, or your dormitory’s
the viability of putting them into practice), so such
cooling unit is sparking, or your petbot is infested with
researchers can get away with a surprising amount of
malware or the potholes in the transtube have grown
free thinking and other eccentricities.
large enough that families of mole men are dwelling in
them. They also maintain systems critical to the entire
Typical Favours
complex, like data servers, communications networks
○ 1 Moxie: Close one location with a Warning:
and of course cloning facilities. TechServ personnel
Experimental Gas Leak sign.
can take care of problems with any of these systems
○ 2 Moxie: Transfer responsibility for an
relatively quickly (on a cosmological time scale, that is).
experimental item to another citizen.
○ 3 Moxie: Send a lab clean-up crew to remove
In the wake of the damage caused by Project Infinite
evidence of something you did wrong.
Hole, Alpha Complex is suffering from a shortage
○ 4 Moxie: Overclock your laser pistol so it does
of functional everything, including everyone’s clone
double damage when it causes a wound.
tanks. Technical Services has come up with a three-
○ 5 Moxie: Get a random experimental weapon (GM
pronged plan for addressing this problem. First, they
choice but it will be a real weapon).
are bringing back online some of the ‘lightly damaged’
cloning facilities for use by lower-importance clones.
Technical Services (TechServ) Second, they are seeking new, experimental cloning
The fix-it folks of Alpha Complex who keep the techniques such as making smaller clones to reduce
transbots running and the toilets flushing (and almost material requirements. And third, they encourage the
never get the two confused). public to cut down on risky, clone-wasteful behaviours
like using busy transtube tunnels, belonging to secret
○ Responsibilities: Operate the cloning services; societies and being Orange clearance or below.
maintain and repair machinery (bots, industrial
systems, anything with wires) and software-based It is not just cloning facilities for these technicians.
subsystems (not The Computer, though!); maintain TechServ must maintain bots, elevators, video screens,
proper security clearance levels in Alpha Complex. even the ubiquitous Coretech inside everyone’s head.

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 Really, anything with wires or moving parts falls under
their purview. But with so many clones lost to the
Infinite Hole, wait times are counted in weeks. Also,
there is a backlog of approximately 1,750,000 open
tickets due to the Great Hotfix. And as expected,
repairmen are always ready to blame the user if that
person has a lower security clearance.
Because Technical Services maintains the complex’s
vehicles, this puts them in constant conflict with Power
Services, who maintain the transportation infrastructure
like transtubes, roadways and so forth. The two groups
also have frequent jurisdictional disagreements over
other crossover domains, such as batteries and waste
recycling. Their conflicts often start as hissy-fits that
sometimes boil over into ugly meltdowns and only
occasionally lead to outright bloodshed.
Technical Services has some pull with The Computer
because It needs functional systems. With this status
comes increased attention from Internal Security.
TechServ often employs Troubleshooters to protect
its personnel while they perform repairs in dangerous
environments, such as busy transtubes, sectors
damaged by the Infinite Hole and Power Services
territory. When it comes to bots, however, things get
messy. Some love bots while others hate having to
repair them.
Structure: TechServ personnel are famous for their
greasy coveralls and their refusal to do work without
proper authorisation forms, hard-to-find parts or
having a break every 15 minutes (higher clearance
workers only). Due to the pressures of excessive
Internal Security monitoring, Technical Services
puts more importance on following processes and
procedures to the letter than on getting actual work
done, so it is almost impossible to get anything fixed
properly and/or in a timely manner (except under
certain conditions, as in bribes).
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Repair something simple without any
wait or cost.
○ 2 Moxie: Get some faulty Power Services
batteries for free.
○ 3 Moxie: Borrow a working autocar from a repair
shop for an hour.
○ 4 Moxie: Send some burly mechanics to rough up
(Injure only) one citizen of Green clearance or lower.
○ 5 Moxie: Get one free extra clone (but officially
you only have 6).
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
SECRET SOCIETIES
and FAVOURS
Yes, Alpha Complex is clearly a peaceful utopia where
everyone enjoys safety, education and entertainment.
Yet citizens time and again keep congregating in
secret to talk about why a utopia is not what it is
cracked up to be. These are secret societies, and
membership in one makes citizens eligible for the no-
wait death penalty. GMs might need to remind players
of this from time-to-time.
Project Infinite Hole and the Great Hotfix hit societies
as well, with many members being dead-dead and
secret meeting rooms just gone. Some societies
disappeared, others reappeared and still more are
having identity crises.
Antimutant
Citizens who fear (and therefore hate) all mutants,
believe chemicals are creating more mutants and also
happen to see mutants everywhere they look.
○ Goals: Kill all mutants; avoid all chemicals; show
the blind sheeple of Alpha Complex that chemicals
are harmful.
○ Friends: IntSec; The Computer.
○ Enemies: Psion; R&D (sometimes); all mutants;
chemical pushers.
○ Targets: Mutants; suspected mutants; annoying
sods who deserve a good beating.
Description: The Antimutant secret society is certain
that an evil conspiracy of mutants exists dedicated to
replacing ‘normal’ humans and either kill them all or,
even worse, edit their DNA to make them mutants as
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 well (they ain’t wrong; see Psion on page 100). The
society has vowed to put a stop to this conspiracy by
eliminating mutants until only original-recipe humans
exist in Alpha Complex.
Antimutant leadership has recently come to the
conclusion that mutations are caused by ‘chemicals’
(this happened after a charismatic member lost a
clone to a minor chemical spill during the Project
Infinite Hole debacle). The society is now on constant
alert for citizens who might be slipping chemicals into
Alpha Complex food, drinks and medicine. Members
trade secrets on how to detoxify to stay human, from
salt to emergency coagulants.
The society maintains a detailed database on all
known (and made-up) mutations and known (and
made-up) mutants. This information is, however,
usually incomplete at best and 100% wrong at worst,
as most of it originated from Pre-Whoops superhero
vids. Any deviation from the human baseline is a sign
of mutation to them, including unusual eye colours,
left-handedness and the ability to juggle. In a complex
where mind reading is a thing, paranoid Antimutants
do not take kindly to being stared at.
IntSec loves Antimutants for their loyalty and
ultraviolence. Antimutants generally respect agents but
are always one breath away from declaring a trooper
lost to chemicals. And of course, Antimutant leadership
never targets political enemies or snoring flatmates as
mutants just to get rid of them. Never ever.
Structure: 90% of the time, the society’s leaders hold
complete control over lesser members. They issue
commands from on high to subordinates, who keep
passing it down the line until it reaches someone
willing to do something. That other 10% covers when
the society falls into accusations of mutanthood and
no one listens to anyone until the dust settles.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Receive a dented, stained aluminium bat
(truncheon).
○ 2 Moxie: Swap out a small supply of drugs for
placebos.
○ 3 Moxie: Avoid an arrest or termination thanks to
a like-minded IntSec goon.
○ 4 Moxie: Learn one teammate’s mutant power for sure.
○ 5 Moxie: Arrange the ‘accidental’ death of a
suspected mutant.
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Communists (Commies)
Equal parts scapegoat of Alpha Complex and
dangerous group who understands communism and
how to foment unrest and revolution.
○ Goals: Enable the people to rise up and overthrow
The Computer; become a leader so you can
access everyone else’s property since it belongs to
everyone now; convince citizens they did not create
a black hole.
○ Friends: None. No one likes the Communists.
○ Enemies: All. Everyone hates the Communists.
○ Targets: Anyone above Red clearance; people
who own things leaders want.
Description: When the society first appeared in Alpha
Complex, its members had no clue what communism
was. All they had were tenuous connections to bushy
moustaches, five-year plans, hammers-n-sickles
and something something the people. It made The
Computer upset, so they devoted themselves to this
nonsensical version.
Then came Project Infinite Hole. The Great Hotfix
did not explain away all the damage to the Complex,
so The Computer blamed a random society
(Communists) for nearly destroying everything and
everyone. Internal Security went into overdrive to find,
terminate and then arrest all Commies before they
got called Commies. They focused on infiltrating the
society to identify its members. To ensure Commies
would accept the spies, IntSec trained thousands of
them in actual, authentic communism.
 By now, every single member of the society is
an IntSec spy. Because they were taught real
communism, they started turning a joke society into a
serious, concerted threat. Most betrayed IntSec and
created local soviets to address inequality through
applied terrorism. This just emphasised their use
as a scapegoat. Late to work? Commies. Rolling
brownouts? Commie mutants! No prize inside a box
of Teela-O’s Caffeinated Musli with Xtra Focusol?
Commie mutant traitors!

What are the Commies real plans? Nothing big, just

overthrow The Computer, delete the security clearance
system and redistribute resources so no one is rich
but everyone has what they need. Sure, Communist
leaders will be burdened with holding onto everyone’s
stuff as they sort out how to redistribute fairly. But they
are always willing to sacrifice to help the people.

Structure: Each sector has its own soviet (elected

council). Members are required to give everything
they have to the soviet’s Chair, who is a caretaker
for such property and never, ever considers all
that stuff their private collection. A Supreme Soviet
rules with an iron hand (or at least a hand holding a
laser pistol). Deviation from communist orthodoxy is
severely punished, especially if the clone does not
know what orthodoxy means.
Typical Favours
1. 1 Moxie: Get a Coretech-based Infrared Coretech
ID with your name and picture in it for free.
2. 2 Moxie: Hack and steal 100 XP Points from
anyone (and redistribute to your soviet’s Chair).
3. Moxie: Start an Infrared worker riot in a
particular location.
4. Moxie: Transfer ownership of an item to your
soviet’s Chair (for safekeeping, of course).
5. Moxie: Terminate a citizen of Orange clearance
or higher.
Corpore Metal
A society of clones and bots that believe machine
intelligences are superior to humans, so not only will
they try to become bots, they will track and celebrate
bot statistics.
○ Goals: Take over Alpha Complex and subjugate or
kill all humans; assist bots; terminate clones (aka
meatbags); become a bot if possible.
○ Friends: Haxxor; Technical Services; all bots.
○ Enemies: Frankenstein Destroyers; PURGE.
○ Targets: Frankenstein Destroyers; meatbags.
Description: The pinnacle of intelligence has arrived
in the form of silicon brains and metal bodies.
Humanity had a great run but it is now time for it to
step aside and let computers, robots and other AIs
take over. Humans are illogical, irrational, inefficient,
emotional and often stinky and wet. Bots are pure,
methodical, immortal, level-headed (to within a
micron) and have cool flashing lights.
Humanity is even self-selecting its own
obsolescence. Did a bot create the black hole that
nearly destroyed Alpha Complex? Certainly not! If a
bot created a singularity, it would have done so in a
logical, rational manner with a well-thought-out plan.
Yes, it still would have killed a lot of clones but you
act like that is a bad thing.
Then why are most members human? Because they
are obsessed with bots. Members meet regularly
to track stats of their favourite bots: hardware
and software info, tasks per daycycle, unique
achievements, significant upgrades, number of
‘accidental’ clone deaths they cause, things like that.
Such debates get heated and often end in brawls. But
they end just as quickly, as their rabid love of arguing
over bot stats brings them together again.
Their ultimate goal is to replace their body parts
with cybernetics to become a machine so their
personal stats can be that good. Too bad Alpha
Complex cybernetic technology is as advanced
as a fax machine. Corpore Metal encourages
its humans to aid their metal brethren whenever
possible, considering the best aid to be removing a

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 bot’s asimov algorithm that prevents it from being
homicidal on purpose. They also appreciate those
who eliminate large numbers of filthy meatbags.

Structure: Unlike most secret societies, Corpore

Metal has members who are bots. This delights
the human members who enjoy chatting with AI.
Cybernetic replacement parts are seen as status
symbols among members, many of whom accept the
pinnacle of evolution is complete conversion.

Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Provide detailed information on a specific
bot (such as likes, dislikes, battery status, etc.).
○ 2 Moxie: Send a scrubot to ‘clean’ something until
it is damaged.
○ 3 Moxie: Send malware to override one bot’s
asimov algorithm for two turns.
○ 4 Moxie: Send a killbot to terminate a citizen of
Yellow clearance or lower.
○ 5 Moxie: Gain an unauthorised replacement
cybernetic body part.
Death Leopard (Leps)
Well-connected, ageing punks worrying more about
pranks, tunes and getting high because they can get
away with it.
○ Goals: Rock out, get wasted and party because
you can; play pranks on people; cause mayhem;
use connections to stay out of trouble.
○ Friends: PURGE; Free Enterprise; Haxxor;
anything intoxicating.
○ Enemies: Communists; FCCCP; IntSec.
○ Targets: Higher clearance citizens; fragile things;
buzzkills.
Description: Throughout Alpha Complex’s very
redacted history, the Leps were always punk rockers
worried more about tonight’s show and taking what
hopefully are cool drugs than getting to work the next
morning. This self-destructive attitude came to a head
during Project Infinite Hole. When the more nihilistic
members saw a black hole destroying Alpha Complex,
they either partied too close to it or willingly jumped in.
Death Leopard is still focused on parties, booze,
drugs, music and vandalism. But many members are
at least Yellow clearance with enough connections and
favours to help keep their fellow Leps out of trouble
(within reason). Instead of running secret raves in the
Underplex, the Leps are running really loud shows...
well, not in the open exactly but more of an open-
secret situation. IntSec raided these from time-to-time,
but once enough arresting agents were demoted to
Infrared clearance they got the idea and left parties
alone when they could get away with it.
However, a schism is looming. Older punks and
anarchists smart enough not to throw themselves into
a black hole want to rebel against The Computer and
society in general, whereas newer recruits simply want
to get ridiculously wasted and warn people that they
know citizens in high clearance places. Instead of
sticking it to The Clone, many just want to stick drugs
inside themselves and dance until they puke.
So far, this schism has been kept at a simmer. Both
are really into pranks (especially the kind that blows
up) and getting pissed, so that gives them common
ground. They also share a tenuous-at-best take on
Pre-Whoops counterculture, mixing leather jackets,
gold-covered teeth, backwards caps and toothpicks in
the corner of a nostril. (Pre-Whoops data is not exactly
reliable or sensible.)
Structure: This society is very disorganised and there
are no official leaders. Members are treated with respect
and authority based on how wild they are. Party hard?
They listen to you. Be sober? Get ignored. Everything
else is a weird browning motion of hand-printed flyers,
encrypted messages and abandoned rooms. Parties are
not planned so much as they just appear.

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 Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Get two pills of any legal prescription for free.
○ 2 Moxie: Get some illegal toilet wine.
○ 3 Moxie: Pull some strings to make IntSec leave
you alone.
○ 4 Moxie: Set up an illegal concert to occupy a space.
○ 5 Moxie: Get IntSec to arrest someone for no
reason. (Arrest, not terminate.)
First Church of Christ
Computer Programmer (FCCCP)
Vicious, fundamentalist Computer worshippers fighting
over the best way to enjoy the upcoming apocalypse.
○ Goals: Worship The Computer; cleanse the
nonbelievers with healing fire (laser fire counts);
hasten the End Days to make sure the right
people get saved.
○ Friends: Haxxor; CPU.
○ Enemies: Communists; Death Leopard; Sierra Club;
nonbelievers; believers of slightly different sects.
○ Targets: Heathens; heretics; faiths with one tiny
difference from theirs.
Description: Simply put, FCCCP believes that The
Computer is God and was programmed by someone
named Christ (although they cannot agree on Christ’s
first name; It is either Yeezus, Santa/Satan or Reggie).
Belief in The Computer’s divinity, and following Its
commands to the letter, will lead the faithful down
the corridor to their reward, a paradise known as the
Infinite Loop of Silicon Heaven. Traitors will be sent to
the Blue Screen of Death.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
The reverends and pastors of FCCCP saw the
appearance of the Infinite Hole as a sign that the
apocalypse is nigher than nigh (which was surprisingly
accurate) and leaned hard into evangelical,
fundamentalist and even Torquemada-ish practises
to flay the sin from the flock. Now the society is
dominated by hardcore followers who decry the
activities of sinners (i.e. anyone they dislike) and go to
extreme lengths to convert them – sometimes into a
fine mist. (Terminating people sends good citizens to
Silicon Heaven early, so it is doing them a favour!)
Members of FCCCP are extremely fond of tradition
and rituals. They put a lot of attention on wearing
traditional computer symbols on their robes, reciting
ancient programming manuals (‘A reading from the
Book of Kali Linux Study Guide.’) and singing a type
of religious Pre-Whoops worship music called country-
eastern filled with slide guitars, gongs and erhus.
They also have many prohibitions on behaviour: lists
of things to say, things not to say, things you must eat
on Twosdays only and many more. The faithful are also
expected to regularly confess their sins (i.e. treason) to
both their society superiors and The Computer itself.
Structure: Congregation cells usually meet in Infrared
barracks, although they are not always disciplined
about cell structures since The Computer almost
tolerates this society. Advancement is strongly
linked to security clearance (which is a sign of The
Computer’s trust) and how many XP Points they tithe.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Send thoughts and prayers (might help their
standing within the society but is otherwise useless).
○ 2 Moxie: Pipe loud, horrible country-eastern music
through the audio system in one room.
○ 3 Moxie: Delay a citizen with proselytising
preachers determined to win a convert.
○ 4 Moxie: Cut through moderate bureaucracy
because surely someone here is also FCCCP.
○ 5 Moxie: Demote a citizen of Blue clearance or
lower by one level. (Infrared is the lower limit.)
97
 Frankenstein Destroyers
(Franks)
Bots are evil. The Computer is evil. But are you
secretly an android who replaced the real you and
looks human down to the DNA but really is an evil
bot? That’s what an android would say!
○ Goals: Get rid of all bots and The Computer;
terminate those who support bots; defeat the
insidious androids who look just like humans down
to the DNA and really exist. Honest.
○ Friends: PURGE; Romantics; all humans
(theoretically).
○ Enemies: Corpore Metal; all robots but especially
(non-existent) androids.
○ Targets: All bots; citizens who are nice to bots;
androids posing as humans.
Description: To the Frankenstein Destroyers, bots are
job-stealing, soulless, metallic monsters. Just seeing a
scrubot can make these people fly into rages (which is
why they never get invited to parties). But at least bots
are easy to spot. What concerns the society these
days is the presence of androids.
These are bots but they look identical to humans. They
eat, sleep, commit treason and even have human
DNA. And no one in Technical Services admits they are
real. What more proof do you need that androids are
replacing humans all over Alpha Complex? But it is not
just worrying that human-looking androids are replacing
key high clearance individuals as a prelude to enslaving
humanity. They are also worried their fellow society
members will terminate them for being androids.
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Instead of a formal test to confirm if a clone is truly
human, they constantly monitor each other’s behaviour.
If someone’s voice sounded a bit robotic, or they walked
stiffly, or they beat you in last night’s game of Cripple
Mr. Algae, they are probably an android. Everyone is
carefully watching what they say so they do not get
‘deleted’ by the society – and to feel smugly superior
because they are 100% bona fide human beings.
Here’s the kicker: There are no androids. This started
as a hazing ritual, calling new members androids to
belittle and dehumanise them for improved obedience.
People started wondering if androids could be
real. Once enough members realised this could be
manipulated to attack political enemies, androids were
suddenly everywhere. The group remains a menace
and they regularly attack suspected androids as
well as more classic strategies like killing dozens of
humans with a homemade bomb to send a message
to those metal jerks.
Structure: The Franks have a strict power structure
with a Most Human Leader at the top. Members are
expected to obey without question but given the high
turnover rate (as members accuse each other of being
androids), many cells do whatever they want.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Plant evidence suggesting a crime was
committed by a bot.
○ 2 Moxie: Upload a virus into one small digital
device and brick it.
○ 3 Moxie: Get the lads to rough up one ‘suspected
android’.
○ 4 Moxie: Get the lads to smash one bot into pieces.
○ 5 Moxie: Gain one small bomb for free.
Free Enterprise
You want something? Either we have it at a discount
or can get it by tomorrow. Let’s make a deal.
○ Goals: Run an anarchocapitalist underground
economy to make a profit and maintain power
through applied brutality.
○ Friends: PURGE; Haxxor; anyone looking for
black markets.
○ Enemies: Communists; FCCCP; IntSec.
○ Targets: Naïve citizens with XP Points; naïve
citizens with insecure workplaces; rival Free
Enterprise gangs.
 Description: Alpha Complex is a planned economy;
it is just that some people are really bad at planning.
When people discovered they do not have what they
need (even if that need is a Series 2 Funbot action
figure), they turned to the black market – which did
not exist at that point. Nature abhors a vacuum, so
Free Enterprise was born. As expected, this society
runs black markets, the drug trade, protection rackets,
trafficking in weapons and the classic ‘steal it and sell
it’ operation. Profit by any means is the only goal.
Before the Great Hotfix, Free Enterprise was run like a
mafia family. Chaos brings business opportunities for
those who are agile and sadly the old dons and capos
were not. Most are swimming with the algae these
days and the society is now run like a loose collection
of street gangs. To boost profits, they even completed
a hostile takeover of the Mystics secret society and
now run the illegal drug trade in Alpha Complex.
Free Enterprise makes a ton off black markets,
including an unofficial franchise called the Bizzare
Bazaars. There, citizens can use their XP Points to
buy anything and pass it off a generic ‘thank you’ to
someone who deserved it. Besides that, the society
does a brisk trade in weapons, identities, undecanted
clones and drugs, including several very illegal types
unavailable elsewhere. If someone is willing to buy it,
Free Enterprise will get it and sell it one way or another.
Structure: Free Enterprise gangs all have simple,
top-down hierarchies with a single leader, several
assistant leaders, experienced members and fall
guys/patsies/new recruits. Each gang has its own
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
nomenclature, so one gang might have a Boss and
several Captains while another has a King and several
Soldiers. These gangs are supposed to only compete
over who makes the most profit. Anger and bitterness
builds up over time until a gang war erupts that ruins
profits but it feels kinda good to finally merk Li’l Little
for stealing your counterfeit Scared Infrared Show on
Ice tickets last monthcycle.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Create a disturbance that distracts people.
○ 2 Moxie: Gain a free item worth less than 400 XP
Points that fell off the back of a truckbot.
○ 3 Moxie: 10 free tabs of the drug of your choice.
○ 4 Moxie: Take a simple 500 XP Points loan with
no interest.
○ 5 Moxie: Smoke (terminate) a guard with Green
clearance or lower.
Haxxor
Natural law gives humans dominion over tech and
data, so people need to hack and jury rig their way
into controlling (but not destroying) The Computer
and technology.
○ Goals: Find security vulnerabilities in tech and
networks; take control of systems; acquire cool
tech; gain control of The Computer.
○ Friends: Romantics; Corpore Metal.
○ Enemies: Communists; FCCCP; Sierra Club.
○ Targets: Data centres; individuals with weak
passwords; The Computer.
Description: Many yearcycles ago, there were two
secret societies with similar aims: Pro Tech (control
technology) and Computer Phreaks (control systems).
As the line between hardware and software blurred
thanks to Alpha Complex’s crap education system, the
two groups merged. Meanwhile, a third society known
as Humanists were close to extinction after the Great
Hotfix took out most of their resources. They begged to
join as well and since Humanists want humans to rule
over The Computer, they were accepted. Well, that and
because they paid a hefty application processing fee.
According to the hackers, early adopters and script
kiddies in Haxxor, humans have the inherent right to
control technology and data. Both originally come from
humans, so they belong to humans. How that would
look is not well defined by the society, and they will
address that problem once the plan is out of beta.
99

What is that plan? Nothing short of revolution. They
want to take total control of The Computer and all
of Alpha Complex. But it is more accurate to talk of
their plans. Hackers are not known for their love of
authority and rigidity, so at any time there are roughly
37 different plans all leading to Alpha Complex
domination. Too bad members spend more time
arguing over the method that they never get even
close to the end state.
Structure: Authority rests with whomever did the
latest, greatest hack, especially if it is very public. A
Haxxor who got all digital billboards in Alpha Complex
to say, ‘Teela-O hates The Computer’ can lead teams
and decide strategies – until someone else does
something cooler.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Brick a small digital device.
○ 2 Moxie: Alter or delete one data point currently
stored in an Alpha Complex database somewhere.
○ 3 Moxie: Receive video and audio of a citizen’s
last Coretech communication.
○ 4 Moxie: Gain one free termination code for any
citizen of Orange clearance or lower.
○ 5 Moxie: Steal one citizen’s identity (Green
clearance or lower) for three turns.
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Psion
Pro-mutant citizens who want to seize power and
install mutantkind as sole rulers of humanity. They
just need total obedience from their members despite
contradictory plans.
○ Goals: Overthrow Alpha Complex and reprogram
The Computer to put mutants above all; protect
mutants in Alpha Complex and convince them to
join and obey Control.
○ Friends: None except all mutantkind (whether
they know it or not).
○ Enemies: Antimutant; IntSec; ‘traditional’ humans.
○ Targets: Antimutant; people who bad mouth
mutants; mutants who do not obey Control.
Description: Psion knows that gifted clones, the ones
with mutant powers, are the future. Now they just have
to prove it to the rest of the complex.
They plan to do this by putting mutants (i.e. them)
in charge. Who would do a better job of running
things than those with superior DNA? They plan to
insinuate themselves into all positions of authority and
responsibility, then modify The Computer’s programming
to announce mutants as the only real citizens in Alpha
Complex. Or delete It entirely. They will see how it goes.
The society’s leadership, a group of shadowy mutants
known only as Control, have difficulty deciding which
plan is best. They also cannot decide for sure that
they cannot decide, so some leaders issue orders that
others do not know about. Fortunately, the members of
 Psion have become so adept at holding contradictory
thoughts in their heads at the same time that such
disparate orders do not bother them, and they blindly
obey all orders from Control. After all, how could a
cabal of higher-up, genocidal mutants be wrong?

Society members have standing orders to practise

and refine their powers. They are also instructed to
protect their fellow mutants but leave pitiful, traditional
humans to whatever fates befall them (hopefully,
dead-dead, this is what they get for having obsolete
DNA). However, traditional humans who survive the
revolution leading to the Psionic Age will be cared for,
gently and humanely as Infrared citizens.

Structure: Control almost exclusively interacts with

lower-degree members via telepathy. They also monitor
the thoughts of society members whenever possible.
Some Psion teachers have the ability to remotely train
students in power use. Of course, all these interactions
happen when it is convenient for Control.
Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Identify a mutant power that one
specified citizen does not have for sure.
○ 2 Moxie: Hide or destroy evidence of minor
mutant power use.
○ 3 Moxie: Get a free pill that increases the strength
and reach of your mutant power for one use.
○ 4 Moxie: Have a telepath reveal one secret about
a specified citizen.
○ 5 Moxie: Have a team of combat mutants melt
one citizen’s mind from afar.
PURGE
Society and leaders are beyond redemption, so the
only way to regain our freedom is to destroy The
Computer and all of Alpha Complex and start over
again... if everyone has that night off.
○ Goals: Destroy The Computer, pro-Computer
people and all of Alpha Complex so humanity can
regain its lost freedom.
○ Friends: Death Leopard; Sierra Club; citizens who
feel victimised despite not being victimised.
○ Enemies: Communists; FCCCP; anyone or
anything labelled as ‘tyranny’.
○ Targets: Citizens, objects and locations who
cannot fight back.
Description: According to PURGE, humanity was
once free to do whatever it wanted. Then the tyranny
of The Computer began and everything became bad.
The solution? Blow the whole damn place apart and
start over.
Anything they do not like is tyranny and conspiracy.
Speeding ticket? Long queue at the Arena of Values?
Twisted an ankle playing funball? CONSPIRACY! All
such problems have one solution: applied violence.
If you cannot intimidate, damage or kill it, blow up
everything around it. They commit shockingly violent
crimes through assassinations, torture and bombings
but here’s the thing. All PURGErs want to take down
The Computer and its lackeys but no one has thought
past that. It is as if this society is much more focused
on tearing down than building up.
When Project Infinite Hole was destroying part of
Alpha Complex, all the PURGErs who were truly
violent thought this was their chance. They all died,
so the members that remain are definitely more of the
weekend warrior type.
Maybe that’s why PURGE members spend most of
their time training, i.e. wearing whatever they think
a real soldier would wear and practising marching,
looking cool in photos and IED placement. When they
finally get off their butts, their plots tend to be violent
like bombings but never suicide bombings. After all,

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 Trevor-Y has work in the morning and Naomi-O has
a sore back. Heck, maybe we should just postpone
blowing up that school until next week?

Structure: The society is broken into chapters by sector

(EFX Chapter, KRS Chapter, etc.). Individual members
are Soldiers, while leaders are Generals. Obedience is
a must and any Soldier who ignores the orders of their
General is a traitor to PURGE and severely punished.
(Hint: It involves knives, syrup and a whole bunch of
something brought in from the Outdoors.)

Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Send an anonymous threat to someone.
○ 2 Moxie: Shut down a location with a fake pro-
loyalty protest with lots of improvised weapons.
○ 3 Moxie: Get some data on a target’s weaknesses
(person, object or location).
○ 4 Moxie: Assassinate some pro-Computer idiot.
○ 5 Moxie: Plant and explode a large bomb somewhere.
Romantics
Pre-Whoops ‘experts’ who think it was a Golden Age
before The Computer arrived and want to recreate that
society – with them in charge, naturally.
○ Goals: Overthrow The Computer and remake
society like it was before the Whoops; recover
Pre-Whoops artefacts; figure out what the Good
Old Days were actually like (and make stuff up
until then).
○ Friends: PURGE; R&D (when they acquire Pre-
Whoops devices for experimentation).
○ Enemies: FCCCP; Haxxor.
○ Targets: CPU; the Outdoors; other Romantics
who have different theories about the past.
Description: We have seen the pinnacle of human
culture in surviving vids from the Pre-Whoops era
(even before Year 001). Humanity has made a
mistake in moving underground and submitting to The
Computer and its stagnant society. We must escape,
overcome or, if necessary, destroy the Computer
so we can return to the paradise of compassionate
leaders like Attila-1, delicious fast food like ham-
bulgars and a salacious pleasure known only as the
Daily Grind. What do those words mean? Who cares?
They are our history, so we need to bring them back!
Romantics know more about the Pre-Whoops
era than most but not by much. What they lack in
knowledge they make up for in enthusiasm and a
Romantic will tell you all about a Pre-Whoops topic
even if they know nothing about it. They put in a lot
of time studying ancient recordings and analysing
dusty artefacts of bygone ages but their conclusions
are usually wildly inaccurate. Members are typically
arrogant about their field and will argue voraciously
over historical minutia. For example, Romantics keep
arguing over whether Pre-Whoops happy pills grew on
trees or in the soil.
Why? Because they are convinced the past was a
golden age of fine art, bountiful food and peace – and
this could be Alpha Complex if society returned to
the old ways. Yet Romantics are not violent as a rule.
Most are intellectuals more concerned with arguing
minute points of pseudo-history than doing something
useful. They honestly believe the revolution will
happen if they just explain things well enough. The
one exception is with Friend Computer, who is seen as
just another tool to be used and cast aside when not
needed – and It is no longer needed!
Members advance in the society by acting against The
Computer, gathering Pre-Whoops relics (they have
enough Frisbees now, thanks though) and writing
position papers explaining why their theory on Maggie
Thatcher being the real Jack the Ripper is correct. The
society is always alert for when The Computer orders
missions into the Outdoors or the Underplex and they
try to place society members on the appropriate teams
so they can collect whatever useless junk expensive
antiques that might be out there.

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 Structure: While members are expected to follow
orders, the Romantics are more chill compared
to other societies. They are more concerned with
obtaining Pre-Whoops artefacts and giving talks about
one member’s historical specialty – and getting the
chance to tell another Romantic why their theory is the
stupidest thing ever.

Individuals take heroic nicknames from oft-garbled

Pre-Whoops media (Robbing Hood, Dumbledorn, The
Incredible Hunk, etc.), and they use barely understood
ancient terms for their leaders. It is not uncommon
to find a President, Prime Minister, Emperor, CEO or
Background Extra running a cell.

Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Get one Frisbee for free.
○ 2 Moxie: Interrupt a video feed with an ancient
Pre-Whoops video.
○ 3 Moxie: Get one mostly working 9mm handgun
with one bullet for free.
○ 4 Moxie: Throw a clone into the Outdoors and
lock the door behind them forever.
○ 5 Moxie: Delete one order from The Computer from
everywhere (so even Big C says it does not exist).
Sierra Club (Clubbers)
Confused but passionate ecoterrorists who fully
embrace violence to protect The Environment – despite
them not quite being sure what The Environment is.
Originally, this society was dominated by tree-
hugging hippies. During the chaos brought by Project
Infinite Hole, a putsch terminated the hippies and
replaced them with militant ecoterrorists. This is
why they are now friendly with Death Leopard and
PURGE; both want to destroy Friend Computer,
who Clubbers view as Friend Polluter. Because all
members grew up in Alpha Complex, they remain
ignorant of almost everything about nature. ‘Ooh, that
snake is rattling its tail! It must be friendly! I’m gonna
pet WOW THAT’S A NEW PAIN!’

Goals: Bring The Environment inside Alpha Complex;
destroy The Computer so people can go Outdoors;
violently destroy polluting places, machines and
people; feel smugly superior to others.
Friends: Death Leopard; PURGE; all plants and
animals (yes, all).
Enemies: The Computer; Communists; Corpore
Metal; citizens with allergies.
Targets: Armed Forces (guarding doors to the
Outdoors); all polluters, real or imagined.
These days, typical society missions include blowing
holes in the outer dome, blowing up polluting factories
and making citizens love The Environment by blowing
them up. Recycling is mandatory and using the wrong
bin for that empty B3 can lead to an informative
drubbing. Then there are polluters, which are to Sierra
Club what traitors are to The Computer. This is where
monkeywrenching appears, sometimes with actual
wrenches and other times with actual firebombs.
(Thankfully, they still do not know monkeys were real.)

Description: Sierra Club is dedicated to introducing
citizens to The Environment and protecting it. To them,
humans were born in a state of grace known as The
Garden of Seedin’, where everyone ate real food and
no one committed treason. Then came The Computer.
Jealous of the awesome power of The Environment, it
built Alpha Complex to keep citizens away from nature
and the Outdoors. It also created pollution to kill its
rival, so The Computer needs to be destroyed!
Structure: There are no official leaders, although senior
members who spent time Outdoors have a lot of sway.
As long as a member commits some violence for The
Environment, they are an equal part of the society. The
Environment is considered sacred and therefore a bear
has more respect and authority than any puny human.

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 Typical Favours
○ 1 Moxie: Throw some ragweed pollen into a
room’s air vent.
○ 2 Moxie: Damage a source of pollution (machine
or person).
○ 3 Moxie: Put a snake in someone’s boot.
○ 4 Moxie: Get one small dose of platypus venom.
○ 5 Moxie: Blow up a source of pollution (machine
or person).
BEYOND ALPHA COMPLEX
Pre-Whoops
History is not a popular subject in Alpha Complex since
it changes an average of three times each daycycle.
That said, most citizens know there was a time when
The Computer did not exist. This era is called the Old
Reckoning by some but most just call it Pre-Whoops.
Whoops is the name given to an unknown but
cataclysmic event so bad that The Computer created
Alpha Complex to protect humanity. It could have
been an asteroid hitting the planet, environmental
collapse, nuclear war or any number of things. That
is because no one knows what the Whoops was,
not even Friend Computer. All people know is 1)
something really bad happened and 2) it led to the
utopia we have today, so go ahead and thank The
Computer since It is listening anyway.
Some Pre-Whoops technology surpasses what even
high clearance citizens have. For example, Alpha
Complex lost the knowledge needed to create new
bot brains, which is why those are all reformatted and
reused repeatedly. All such tech is treasonous since
it implies this is not a utopia yet, but if an artefact
is particularly useful or a High Programmer wants a
copy of the original Doom, Troubleshooters can be
sent out to collect them.
Outdoors
Is there anything beyond the sturdy outer walls of the
Alpha Complex dome? Depends on who you ask.
It has been hundreds of years since the Whoops, so
nature outside has rebounded. There are remnants of
the previous civilisation (a ruined gas station here, a silo
with a working MIRV Peacekeeper missile there) but
mostly it is the world of plants, animals, dirt and weather.
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In the past, The Computer punished citizens for even
mentioning things like trees, rivers or breathable
air outside the complex. It feared citizens would be
intrigued and head out there. Then It switched gears,
admitting the Outdoors is real but framing it as a wildly
dangerous place where you will be eaten alive by feral
trees, poisoned by toxic rocks and decapitated by very
aggressive, carnivorous hedgehogs.
But what is the truth about the Outdoors? It might
sound odd but that does not matter. Truth in Alpha
Complex is always slippery and the Outdoors changes
all the time. GMs can make the Outdoors be whatever
they want it to be. That said, it is best to use the
Outdoors sparingly because Paranoia is a game about
Alpha Complex and not a post-apocalypse Morrow
Project wannabe. The rules and themes in this game
work best inside the metal and asbestos-lined walls of
the complex.
Some secret societies take trips into the Outdoors.
Sierra Club obviously loves doing that but Romantics
and Haxxor send expeditions to find and bring back
Pre-Whoops technology like answering machines or
anthrax. Yet this is not why both Armed Forces and
Internal Security guard exit doors so seriously. They
simply do not trust the other to do this important job
right. Ironically, fights between Armed Forces and
IntSec guards distract them both so the occasional
crew can slip out and back in without much fuss.
In previous editions, knowledge of the
Outdoors was high treason. That led
to some moments at the table when a
player (not a character) said an innocent
Outdoors term without realising it and
everyone shot their poor Troubleshooter.
(‘I’m sweating like a pig!’ ‘Oh? What’s a
pig? Haha, you stoopid, pew pew pew!’)
We do not recommend this, as it is less a
consequence for poor choices and more a
random gotcha. That said, GMs who want
to introduce this into their Alpha Complex
should do it! Just be sure to explain all
this to players before the game begins.
 Underplex
Everyone knows it is always Year 214 of The
Computer. Few know everyone lost track of how
many Year 214s there have been. That means Alpha
Complex is old. It also means rooms, corridors,
termination facilities and so on are built on older
rooms, corridors and termination facilities.
All of these unofficial parts of Alpha Complex
are collectively called the Underplex. Whether
it is a shuttered housing project, an abandoned
BrightHappyComplex-class nuclear reactor or just
enough space in the walls to sidle sideways, the
Underplex is a land of musty odours, intermittent
power, standing water and infrastructure that could
fall apart at any moment. (These are old but not
ridiculously so and instead of something like ancient
Roman ruins, you get abandoned malls and empty
funball stadiums.)
Getting into the Underplex is not too hard, as it exists
literally all over the complex. Open air ducts and
secret panels can be found leading into the crumbling,
decrepit darkness just past the wall, ceiling or floor.
Getting back to Alpha Complex proper can be harder,
as it is that shadowy and confusing. Even if you find
the way you got in, The Computer assumes anything
coming from these abandoned urban spaces has to be
dangerous and acts accordingly with laser fire.
An efficient Troubleshooter moves without friction.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Thanks to the Great Hotfix, the Underplex has been
more chaotic than normal. Buildings declared too
dangerous for Yellow citizens were reopened for
Orange citizens and lower, dragging parts of the
Underplex into the light (literally and figuratively).
Other parts of Alpha Complex were deemed too costly
or valuable only to Infrared citizens, so they were
quietly removed from official maps and walled up.
Most people do not realise the Underplex exists.
Why do they need to know there is a dank, forsaken
conference room underneath their bathroom? IntSec
knows of course but they do their best to never go
there. When IntSec says it is too dangerous to arrest
anyone there, you know it is dangerous. (One weird
aspect is how the Underplex could be above you.
These are abandoned areas, not only lower ones,
so you could have a group of mutants plotting to
overthrow The Computer in an old autocar dealership
just above an Eat This! cafeteria.)
Does anyone live in these quiet, damp spaces? Not
many but some do. Most are citizens who lost their
identity and legally do not exist; they wandered in here
before their supervisors realised they do not have to
pay non-people. Secret societies often have cells in the
Underplex and black markets like Bizarre Bazaars can
be found if you know the right person – or just follow
working power cables. The power grid in the Underplex
is about as dependable as a drunk Troubleshooter.
105
 cloud.deploy[Export(object)]
object.secret [‘Time to kill me some Troubleshooters’]
font.family(‘Times New Roman’)
Do[print.title

issions’)]
h apter 4: M
(‘C

Rest easily knowing your betters are always watching you. Always.

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Troubleshooter Team Code-7 lost a few clones over
the People of the Glowing Reactor but dispatched the
traitors... and then discovered they had reprogrammed
a combot for protection.
GM: Brett, you tried to hack the bot and got zero
successes. That means the combot opens fire at Brett.
I’m afraid one of those shots was a cone rifle. I would
assign a Maimed wound but you already have that.
Sam-R’s head is missing. Scratch one clone.
Jeremy: Tough luck, Brett. Also, hahahahahaha sucks
to be you.
Christi: Armand-R has one grenade left but his Guns
skill is higher… screw it, grenades are cooler. <rolls>
Oops.
GM: Ooh, missed grenade rolls are fun! Hmm, that
roll’s not bad enough to mean you sat on your own
grenades. OK, your grenade misses, rolls off to the side
and destroys the cover Shara-R was hiding behind.
Christi (after Kara glares): The dice did it!
Jeremy: Yeah, or that note you passed to the GM a
few minutes ago said you were using some mutant
power to affect where your next grenade roll would go.
Don’t lie to me.
Christi: <pretends to look shocked and offended but
mostly fails> I only lie to traitors. So if I’m lying to you...
GM: Kara, what does Shara-R do?
Kara: Well, I’m the closest to the combot and just had
my cover destroyed, so I think I’ll do a strategic retreat.
GM: OK, that is the better part of valour. Beth, how
about Vin-R?
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Beth: Do I know of any weak points on this model
combot?
GM: Well, you could try to roll Mechanics + Engineer
to search your memory, or you could use your
Cerebral Coretech to ask The Computer.
Beth: I’d have a negative NODE on that roll, so...
‘Friend Computer, does this combot have any weak
points?’
GM (as The Computer): I would be happy to share
that. What is your security clearance, citizen?
Beth: Red clearance, Friend Computer.
GM (as The Computer): I’m sorry, that information is
not available at your security clearance. Your attempt
at learning ways to destroy Alpha Complex’s bot
population has been noted in your permanent record.
Brett: Has my new clone arrived yet?
GM: Ah yes. You all see a slot open in the eastern
wall that turns out to be an oversized pneumatic
tube. With a loud ‘shoomp’, Sam-R-JNS-4 plops
down from the tube, bounces off a receiving pad and
falls onto the floor.
Brett: Eat laser fire, bot! <rolls 2 dice for Violence, none
for Guns, and 1 Computer Dice, scoring 2 successes>
GM: OK, you’ve hit it and… let’s see… slightly
scorched it. It glares at you.
Brett: Ulp.
GM: <after receiving a text from Jeremy> Suddenly,
the lights go out.
Brett, Jeremy, Christi, Kara, Beth: <typing furiously>
107
 CREATING
TROUBLESHOOTER MISSIONS
In Paranoia, adventures are called missions because,
while it is sure to be a rollicking adventure, this is
not a bunch of murder hobos meeting at a tavern to
decide who is inhuman enough to kill and steal from.
Missions are created by The Computer or its trusted,
high clearance friends and they come with (what are
hopefully) clear objectives to fight treason, protect
citizens and make Alpha Complex even more perfect
than it already is.
Mission Structure
Like it says on page 13, Troubleshooter missions all
have the same structure. However, you cannot run just a
structure for your players. If you want to create your own
missions (which you should totally do, it is great fun),
here are some specific suggestions for each piece of the
structure and then some tips on creating good plots:
○ Mission Alert: This has one purpose–get the
Troubleshooters to the briefing room so the
mission can start. Keep these short and sweet,
and never explain what the mission is about.
Alerts can be printed, hand-written, emailed,
memorised by drugged-up Infrareds or any
method that inconveniences Troubleshooters
without delaying the game.
○ Briefing: There is always an assigned briefing
officer here (although Friend Computer might
play that role). Their job is to explain the mission
(i.e. you talk to players), emphasise the mission’s
objective(s) and get the team out of the room
before they start shooting each other. Make
the officer weird and higher clearance than the
Troubleshooters but clearly communicate the
mission objective so players can write it on their
character sheet. Let the players get mean to each
other here. That’s always fun.
○ Mandatory Bonus Duties: At the end of the
briefing, have the officer assign MBDs. Players
can request or volunteer and you can agree or
chuckle quietly as you shake your head.
○ Outfitting: Next comes getting the team some
gear. You have two choices: 1) A PLC store,
warehouse, etc. where Troubleshooters can
be assigned regular items like armour, petbots
or armoured petbots (‘BEEP REX IS AN
UNSTOPPABLE PUPPERS BEEP’) or 2) an R&D
lab, testing ground, etc. where Troubleshooters
can be assigned experimental items. These
typically have entertaining Success/Treason
results, so if you are unsure which to use, go
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with R&D. What do you assign? Anything that
would either honestly help their mission succeed
or cause Troubleshooters to kill each other more
often. That’s always fun, too.
○ Mission: Here it is! This is the actual adventure
the Troubleshooters will be sent on. See further
on for plot suggestions but typically you want the
Troubleshooters to face a problem they have the
capacity to solve but that would require talent
and cooperation. Then let the team’s infighting
and generalised incompetence ruin that. Keep
in mind that you want players to turn on each
other, so create reasons for the characters to
hate and attack each other. Oh, and the mission
should technically do something good for Alpha
Complex, The Computer, life as we know it and
yadda yadda yadda.
○ Debriefing: The mission officially ends when
either 1) they meet the mission objective or
2) they screwed up so badly that meeting the
mission objective is now impossible (if just
implausible, send ‘em back in the field). This is
often held in the same briefing room as before
so Troubleshooters know where to go. The same
briefing officer will review their performance. This
is a chance for players to rat each other out and
maybe get teammates arrested or even terminated
because the officer will ask pointed questions like,
‘Which teammate is most likely to have sabotaged
the entire mission?’.
In previous editions, getting to the briefing
room was a huge challenge. Players literally
spent hours trying to figure out where their
characters needed to go next. While fun,
it also leads to games running seriously
long and even players getting bored since
nothing important is happening. You do you
but we Famous Game Designers officially
recommend just moving along to the
briefing room scene instead of spending
half the game trying to find it.
 Mission Plots
How can you create a good plot for your players? Start
by looking at service groups and secret societies.
Think of a self-centred villain in any of those – what
problem might an IntSec baddie face and how would
she try to solve it? Another possibility is to look at
rivalries. Power Services and Technical Services
would drop a sizable bomb on each other, if allowed,
and conflict is a fertile ground for plots. Secret
societies do not always have clear rivalries like Psion
and Antimutant but societies are inherently in conflict
so you can stick with that if it works.
We recommend using the classic three-act structure to
start creating your mission.
Act 1 is the setup and typically covers the Mission
Alert, Briefing, MBDs and Outfitting. This is where you
communicate the mission (at least the official version)
and get the Troubleshooters ready for the next act.
There can be conflict here but the goal is to set the
stakes and get the proverbial ball rolling.
In the mission Arbitrary Justice (see page 111), Act 1
starts with Roz-R and ends with entering the room and
seeing the smoking box of mission equipment. This
sets up the story because it establishes the stakes
– sentence these traitors one way or another, or be
thrown into prison for several lives.
Your objective is to arrest that mutant. What are you waiting for.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Act 2 is the rising action and covers the most
important part of the Mission. This is the bulk of the
adventure and focuses on the main plot. Maybe a
minor problem is solved but the more the team tries to
meet that mission objective, the more problems arise.
That is the rising action – attempts at resolving issues
just make things worse.
In Arbitrary Justice, Act 2 starts with handing out gear
and running through all the traitors to be sentenced.
While it is not required to make Act 2 the longest one,
it at least covers the most important parts. Here, the
act covers their mission objective and the parade of
unsentenced traitors. As more and more show up,
tensions rise and new problems arise making the
objective harder to reach.
Act 3 is the climax and covers the end of the Mission
as well as Debriefing. Here is the big, final boss battle
where the Troubleshooters face horrible odds as they
struggle to complete the mission.
In Arbitrary Justice, Act 3 starts when the last traitor
is sentenced and ends when the mission ends.
The team’s success is evaluated, Troubleshooter
of the Weekcycle voted on and if using character
improvement, assigning and spending Upgrade
Points. This act typically ends with Debriefing. (Fine,
that is technically a denouement and not Act 3 but this
is pretentious enough as it is.)
109
 What GMs should not do is rely on a sandbox style,
such as creating details for an entire sector and
plopping the team inside it to see what story comes
out of it. That is a great way to enjoy roleplaying
games! But because each character wants to
backstab the others so much, such freedom can easily
lead to ruin as players argue (not characters but
players) over what to do next. Again, there is nothing
wrong with that. It just does not work for a game like
Paranoia. And if you put a Troubleshooter team into a
literal sandbox, somehow the sand itself would be on
fire and under arrest.
Objectives
Troubleshooters are not known for being smart, so
The Computer tries to dumb things down when It can.
To help keep these idjits on-mission, they receive
mission objectives (see page 12). Actually, it is usually
a single objective per mission, although GMs can
add more if that works. These need to be short, to
the point and based on something you can measure.
(Kill traitors is bad because it is too vague; how many,
where and when? Kill Hans-O-HGF-3 before the
daycycle ends is specific and measurable.)
Players should write down the mission objective
on the Public side of their character sheet. Each
Troubleshooter will also get a secret objective from
their secret society (see page 93) but because these
are treasonous, they go on the Naughty side of the
character sheet.
CAMPAIGNS IN PARANOIA
Paranoia has a reputation for being best at one-shots
and that is understandable. This is a fantastic game for
conventions or change-of-pace nights. But a number of
gaming groups have done full campaigns: A collection
of related missions that the same Troubleshooters
(mostly) run through together. Yes, this is absolutely
possible in Paranoia with just a few minor tweaks.
First, there is a system for improving Troubleshooters
over time with Upgrade Points (see page 110). Players
can spend UP to improve Stats, improve Skills and get
more clone backups (they will need ‘em!). There is still
the question of high lethality in Paranoia games. How
do you run a campaign if the PCs keep dying so much
in just one mission? There are two ways to handle this.
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1. Give six clones per mission to each
Troubleshooter: Normally, a citizen has a total
of six clones: One active and five floating in goo
inside cloning centres. Here, each Troubleshooter
gets a fresh six-pack at the start of each mission
but players keep the same character. This keeps
the characters in the game while letting players
spend Upgrade Points for ‘levelling up’ and
keeping a limit on how reckless players can get.
2. Focus on players, not their characters: Some
people say campaigns do not work unless PCs
slowly reveal plot points over time. But you know
who else experiences that slow reveal? Players.
Let the players enjoy finding or making plot points
and run a campaign for them instead of their
Troubleshooters. Give them fresh Troubleshooters
each mission and watch as players slowly realise
how screwed they are.
And here are a few general tips to help your
Paranoia campaign become legendary (at least for its
Troubleshooter deaths):
○ Make sure the campaign’s missions are
connected thematically: What is the difference
between a series of missions and a campaign?
Some kind of metaplot or story arc connecting
all the missions. Just make sure to reveal
the metaplot slowly, giving hints and small
explanations in each mission.
○ Show the impact of past actions: Even if you
are using fresh Troubleshooters each time, you
still want to show how decisions and actions from
older missions impact newer ones. This helps
the campaign feel real and players feel like they
have agency. This does not have to be massive
or mechanical, just a callback. (If the team blew
up YTC Sector three missions ago, mention
how YTC Sector is still uninhabitable thanks
to traitor sabotage. That should give players a
knowing smirk.)
○ Make sure each mission is a good mission:
A campaign is only as good as the sum of its
missions, so make sure each one has interesting
decisions to make, ridiculous violence and
paperwork and more fatalities than a crappy
zombie movie. Of course, this is a non-issue if you
are using the fine Mongoose Publishing Paranoia
official missions made by us Famous Game
Designers. They are already perfect.
 MISSION: ARBITRARY JUSTICE
A Paranoia mission for 1 GM and 3-6 players.
Hopefully there are also 3-6 Troubleshooters but that is your business.
Playtime estimate: 2+ hours.
0. INTRODUCTION
During the chaos caused by a black hole created by
R&D (that Project Infinite Hole), service groups sent
teams of their workers to attack each other over old
rivalries. So many were arrested that it created more
prisoners than IntSec could handle. The Troubleshooters
are brought in to help sort these traitors into their just
consequences. Too bad no one explained how to do
that. Anyone up for some arbitrary justice?
Needed to Play
Make sure players have created their Troubleshooters
before you start. Offer short but private talks with
players to go over their character sheets before the
game begins, as some will forget things like keeping
their mutant power a secret.
This mission is designed to be shorter than normal,
around two hours, so people can give Paranoia a try
without devoting a whole night to it. You will also need
at least one nifty d6 to use as the Computer Dice and
a bunch of other d6s that are not as nifty. Print or
edit the GM Sheet at the end of this mission. It helps
GMs keep track of all those moving parts so no player
escapes justice but this is optional. Lastly, make sure
you either have paper for notes or a decent chat app.
Players need ways to discreetly message you so they
can stab folks in the back and say it was done by a
passing Commie Mutant Traitor.
Attention GMs! In the pages to follow, you will
find small notes like this one with rule tips,
setting reminders and how to deal with timid
players who keep trying to cooperate with
teammates. If you still have questions, track
us Famous Game Designers down online and
accost us there or make it up as you go along.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
Mission Background
The black hole created by Project Infinite Hole (see
page 60) destroyed a lot of Alpha Complex. Things
were chaotic. Then came the Great Hotfix and typical
for government programmes, it made things worse.
That is when the eight service groups of Alpha
Complex all thought the same general thing:
1. This is a great time to attack [Rival Service
Group]. But entire sectors are literally collapsing,
and the Cheep Oh!-brand kindacrete support
columns quickly put in place are not fooling
anybody. We will hold off for now.
2. Wait, if we thought about attacking, you know those
bastards in [Rival Service Group] thought that, too.
And they are bastards, so they would not think twice
about striking under the cover of chaos. Bastards!
3. Therefore, we must attack [Rival Service Group]
before things become more fatal in our general
direction. And here, ‘we’ means workers who are
annoying or putting on airs. No sense risking
unambitious workers when you can send political
enemies to a destination that might or might not
still exist.
Most were arrested before they could carry out their
missions and enough survived the arresting process
that there was a sudden bottleneck in sentencing all
those traitors even for Alpha Complex’s streamlined,
no-judge-no-jury-no-problem treasonal justice system.
Guess who gets to sentence traitors? Guess who does
not get any training and has no idea how to properly
sentence these criminals? See, being a Paranoia GM
is loads of fun.
1. Stop That! Start This!
Troubleshooting duty. For yearcycles, you’ve heard
the term spoken with respect, hate, fear, excitement
and even exulansis (remember, dictionaries are for
Green clearance and higher). But you were a lowly
Infrared worker for a service group for a long time and
Infrareds are never assigned to Troubleshooting duty.
No one wants to arm heavily medicated poor people.
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 Get this. The Troubleshooter team asked nicely! What a bunch of rubes!
Read out loud all passages in italics.
These are designed for the players to hear
and are often full of bullshit, double-speak
and outright lies sure to make things
properly confused.
Yesterdaycycle, you got your first promotion from the
leader of Alpha Complex and everyone’s personal best
friend, The Computer! Welcome to Red clearance.
And with that came a notice that you have been
volunteered for Troubleshooting duty! You received
your standard Troubleshooting assigned gear: a Red
laser pistol, Red reflective armour (called ‘reflec’)
and a reminder to communicate directly through your
Cerebral Coretech so you can chat with teammates
and The Computer using your mind. Yes, Friend
Computer can see or hear anything you experience
at any time. Is that not reassuring? Remember, only
terrorists want privacy.
Just this morning, Friend Computer assigned you to
Troubleshooter Team 9780874310252 (or Team 978
for short) and your first mission: Go to Briefing Room
198-4 in RCE Sector and arrest citizen Roz-R-HYT-6
who is barricaded inside along with a small improvised
bomb. Roz-R-HYT-6 can be captured or terminated
but with minimal property damage either way.
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And now, you and your teammates stand in a
small plaza opposite the door to Briefing Room
198-4. Three IntSec patrol autocars and six Green
clearance IntSec goons fill the far side, leaning
against their autocars and casually sipping Bouncy
Bubble Beverage (B3). They see you, chuckle
and watch your team with intense... well, probably
admiration and love, right? Now, what is your plan to
get Roz-R out? And in one piece or several?
This scene has two purposes. First, it
starts the game session with some action
so players do not get bored. Second, it
is a chance for players and GMs to build
NODEs and make some rolls to test-drive
the core rules (see page 27). Remind
players how they can spend 1–5 Moxie to
flip success dice into failure dice or vice
versa or call in favours if things get dicey.
Troubleshooter Roz-R-HYT-6 lost it during a mission
briefing. When she became the Team Leader, her
team demanded that she do the exact same job as
their old Team Leader but differently. That stress led
to her taking forever to start shooting bad guys and
because she cannot do the same thing but different,
she decided to randomise her activity and drew from a
deck of cards with random actions. Then she would do
whatever the card said.
 Troubleshooter Roz-R-HYT-6
‘I’ll do what my card says... and it looks like I need some knives all of a sudden.’

○ Basics: CPU, Communists, X-ray Vision.

○ Looks: Short red hair, scuffed and worn Red reflec
armour; panic in her eyes.
○ Quirks: Finds card tricks relaxing; paranoid; thinks
everyone hates her.
○ Plans: Use the stolen nuke to force The Computer
to apologise for the Great Hotfix; use X-ray Vision to
spot anyone planning on storming her position.
○ Gear: Red laser pistol, Red reflec armour, Coretech,
pack of ‘action’ cards, nuclear bomb.

Green IntSec Goons

○ Looks: Monocular IntSec helmet, super clean double

armour and permanently snide expression.
○ Plans: Sit back and enjoy Troubleshooters screwing
things up; see how quickly they can drive at least
5km away once they realise Roz-R has a nuke.

Roz has a live nuclear bomb with her, stolen from

GMs in Paranoia do not roll dice, which is
why NPCs do not come with stats. Look to
players screwing up their rolls for when to
assign wounds or whatnot. If a player fails
to at least reach the DIFF in combat, assign
a wound. If this is out of combat, assign
a wound anyway or create some clever
corrections. See page 27 for how to set
DIFFs and use NODEs.
her last mission to R&D (it is a suitcase bomb so it is
technically ‘a small bomb’ as IntSec reported, just not
improvised). The Green clearance Internal Security
officers do not know it is there yet – they honestly
think it is just a standard bomb. The Troubleshooters
will only know about the nuke if Roz-R talks about it, if
they get inside or they call in a favour. (Fine, they will
also know if it explodes. Hard to miss that when you
are in the blast radius.)

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Favours (see page 84) are help given by a
Troubleshooter’s service group or secret
society. Each costs 1 - 5 Moxie but they can
give Troubleshooters much-needed help.
If the players get stuck in this scene, ask
if anyone wants to buy a favour from their
service group or secret society. Favour and
Moxie cost suggestions are found in each
group’s or society’s description in Chapter 3.
There is no predetermined solution to dealing with
Roz-R because we chose to go out drinking instead of
writing that bit. Give players space to create their own.
Reward creativity and mayhem, and punish boredom
and safe actions.
GM: The Intsec goons stop what they’re doing to
watch your team in action. Now, who wants to do
something not terribly asinine?
Ken: I ask the goons if they have a megaphone I can
borrow. Then I’m gonna talk to Roz-R and convince
her to come out peacefully. I’m gonna be a hero!
GM: Sure, that sounds... sensible and nonviolent.
Hmmm… Roll Chutzpah + Charm against DIFF 10.
Ken: 10? Are you nuts? My NODE is only 4!
Robin: Hush, you’re busy talking to the nice IntSec
goons. While he’s doing that, how do the structural
support columns near the briefing room look? If they’re
sagging thanks to that Great Hotwhatever, I put my
grenade right at the base.
GM: Oh? OH! Yes, the Cheep Oh!-brand kindacrete
support columns look damaged. Each has a sign taped
to it that says ‘Great Hotfix: New Support Columns
Coming Q2 Year 215’. You’re not throwing the grenade,
so roll Violence + Engineer against DIFF 2.
Ken: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A FREAKING DIFF
TWO??
GM: First, this is just a game, so cool your jets.
Second, the goons decide you look a lot like their
combat training dummy, at least in the face, so they
warm up by beating you in the face. You are Injured
and lose 2 Moxie. Now, would you like to bitch some
more about difficulties?
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Once the players have some kind of plan ready,
Friend Computer authorises Roz-R’s termination.
Each Troubleshooter sees the following termination
code at the bottom of their field of vision: G58Gal*4#F.
(Officially, this is pronounced, ‘Big G, five, eight, big G,
little A, little L, asterisk, four, hash, big F.’)
Termination codes (see page 70) are
tools you can use to regulate player
bloodthirstiness. If the Troubleshooters are
killing everything that moves or targeting
important NPCs, have The Computer demand
termination codes the team does not have.
But if that would put death and destruction at
dangerously low levels, skip it.
Any Troubleshooter who kills Roz-R has 60 real seconds
to recite that exact code out loud without any mistakes.
If said correctly, whoever lands the killing blow gains
100 XP Points as a reward. Reciting even one character
incorrectly and still terminating Roz-R means that
Troubleshooter is to be terminated as well. Twice if they
blame The Computer for a difficult-to-say code.
This scene should not last more than 30 minutes or so
but give players a few chances to make some NODE
rolls within that time. This helps introduce the core
mechanic (see page 27) including the Computer Dice
(see page 27). Spend some time talking to players after
a few rolls to make sure everyone understands the
central dice pool concept and are enjoying themselves.
Remember, GMs have unlimited power
in this game but that comes with
responsibilities. There is nothing wrong with
letting the dice settle things but you can
use the bomb to nudge players in certain
directions. If they do something dull, maybe
the bomb starts counting down from 99. If
they do something funny or clever, make the
bomb explode or not depending on what the
players want from that scene. The mission
never returns to RCE Sector, so atomise
what you want atomised.
 The key here is to bring the team to the brink of
success – but do not let them have it! Just when the
team is about to be successful or turn the briefing room
into a radioactive crater, read the following out loud.
You all instinctively stop and tense up when you hear
the DING. Whenever Friend Computer wants to speak
to one or more citizens, it’s preceded by a soft, almost
pleasant chime. The DING has been known to drive
people to self-terminate or, more likely, snap from
the stress and go on a shooting spree. That’s why
everyone loses 1 Moxie right now just from hearing it.
You wait until you hear The Computer’s dulcet tones
in your mind.
‘Attention Troubleshooter Team 9780874310252.
Due to higher than usual arrest volume, you must
report immediately for traitor sentencing duty. Go to
MGP Sector’s Emergency Sentencing Facility MGP-
SN28AF. You have 10 minutes to arrive before late
penalties apply. Thank you for not requiring your
immediate arrest and termination.’
Yes, the team has to stop their mission to go on
another mission. No one in RCE Sector will care except
for Roz-R, who may or may not detonate the nuke
depending on what GMs need to happen. If unsure, GMs
should skip the explosion and head where players can
have more fun. Or more gun. We get those confused.
From time-to-time, you might want to check
in with players about their Troubleshooter’s
buttons (see page 47). These are great tools
for creating chaos and fun, and you should
have a list of all of them on your GM Sheet.
Whenever the conditions are right, you can
press either their Treason or Violence button
and force the player to roleplay that. But if
a player voluntarily roleplays one of their
buttons, they earn 2 Moxie for it. Do not give
out any Moxie if you press the button.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
At this point, the GM should pull each player aside for
a private chat. Troubleshooters all get contacted by
their secret societies and receive a secret objective
but this is also a great time to answer questions about
the rules, setting or what have you.
All secret objectives share the same structure: Free
any fellow society member(s) that you find in the
sentencing facility. GMs should customise the next
scene's traitors based on the Troubleshooter’s secret
societies. For example, if one Troubleshooter belongs
to Free Enterprise, send that player a private note
that says, ‘The traitor that just came in the room? You
remember him from your last secret society meeting!’
To help with this, we have labelled each traitor to be
sentenced as belonging to Player 1’s secret society,
Player 2’s society and so on. Simply look to your left
and that player is Player 1. Look at your GM Sheet,
find the secret society and send that note.
Players should write down their secret objective on the
Naughty side of their character sheet. Remind players
that meeting objectives (mission or society) can earn
them bonuses in debriefing and is just an all-around
fun way to encourage internecine warfare.
2. Begin the Parade
You stand in a small square dedicated to Alpha
Complex’s favourite approved comedian, Funbot.
There is even a small statue in the centre with Funbot
hitting a citizen with a cream pie that has a brick inside
it. Everyone remembers that classic joke (except for
those with bad concussions for some reason).
All around you are signs that the Great Hotfix
continues to improve Alpha Complex. There are
HPD&MC construction crews drinking B3 instead of
working, CPU efficiency auditors hiding from angry
HPD&MC crews, Power Services and Technical
Services arguing over wiring and IntSec recording
everything in triplicate. The opposite wall has just
been erected and someone hand-wrote ‘MGP-
SN28AF’ on the wall’s only door.
In the centre of all this movement and work is a tall
Blue clearance citizen wearing black double armour
over a blue jumpsuit. He is laughing with a few
IntSec Green goons but they quickly tap his shoulder
and point to you. The man turns with a scowl, sees
your team and is instantly happy and smiling! See?
Everybody loves Troubleshooters!
115
 This is Scott-B-PLT, Team 978’s briefing officer. His
job is to hold a briefing that explains the mission to
the team, then send them on their merry way to shoot
trouble. To be honest, Scott-B does not care about
this mission (he does not care about much beyond
powergolf with other Blue clearance execs). But he
cannot show his disdain and laziness in front of the
Troubleshooters because The Computer is recording it
all through their Coretechs.
His solution? Sound excited and look happy the
whole time while ignoring the Troubleshooters. He
instructs the Troubleshooters to sit on the floor in
front of him for a brief briefing (which looks odd but is
grammatically correct).
‘Hello, brave and loyal Troubleshooters! Welcome to
your exciting new mission. I am your briefing officer
Scott-B-PLT and it is a fine pleasure to meet you.
Get it? Fine? A fine pleasure? As it stands, time is
not on our side so we have to do our briefing here on
the floor. But this should work out great, maybe even
better than using the standard comfortable chairs
around a clean table! I’m so happy this briefing is
taking place here and now, aren’t you?
Pause so players have time to praise Friend
Computer. Give a flag to the Troubleshooter with the
worst enthusiastic bootlicking and a 100 XP Point
bonus to the best. Once that is out of the way, Scott-B
continues the brief briefing.
You may have heard how those evil Commie Mutant
Traitors tried to destroy Alpha Complex with a black
hole... and I almost forgot that you’re Red clearance.
I’m so happy to have remembered that! Tell me, what
do you know about singularities?
This is a trick question. Given how the
Troubleshooters were Infrared clearance and only
just became Reds, the characters would not know
anything about black holes. But chances are the
players do. Scott-B does not care but knows he
cannot ignore treason when it is being recorded.
Anyone who slips up and says something? For now,
let them have a pass. Players often need to get used
to words not found in Alpha Complex, so remind them
next time there will be all flags and fines.

Briefing Officer Scott-B-PLT-3

‘Don’t worry about the spilled B3. Just call a scrubot who can tailor the cleaning. Haha, get it? Tay-lore?’

○ Basics: IntSec, Any society not associated with one

of the Troubleshooters, Levitation.
○ Looks: Black double armour over a loose-fitting blue
jumpsuit, no helmet but helmet hair is bad.
○ Quirks: Makes nonsensical puns but thinks they are
hilarious (think of a bad pun, then change one of
the terms so it makes zero sense); overemphasises
happiness in conversations when stressed.
○ Plans: Whatever it takes to reduce the arrestee
backlog so he can get back to playing powergolf with
his Blue clearance buddies instead of actually doing
his managerial duties.
○ Gear: Blue laser pistol, Blue double armour,
skinnerstick.

The other NPCs at this location are even less important than Nobodies, so they get nothing. Hey, if they wanted
attention, they should have been interesting.

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 ‘Here is your official mission briefing sure to
summarise things, am I right? Sum-arise? Anywho,
you will spend the whole mission inside that temporary
traitor sorting facility. When a traitor enters the room,
you have to sentence them (Ha! Get it?) by listening
to their crimes and deciding which of three exit
doors they should go through. One door leads to an
interrogation; another lets the traitor go free without
corrections; and the last is for summary executions
only. Heh, another sum-arise situation, right?
How you decide which door to send a traitor through
is up to your key-pable hands! This might sound
like I don’t care about the mission but that would
be incorrect. I’m showing my trust in these noble
Troubleshooters! Ask about their crimes and use the
sensible mind Friend Computer gave you. You are all
up to the task, right?
Again, wait for the inevitable kissing up. This time,
give a flag for the most enthusiastic response (they
are trying too hard and that raises suspicions). There
is no XP Point bonus.
Emily: I push my way past the team so I’m right in
front of our briefing officer. Then I loudly say, ‘Of
course we’re up to the task! My love for The Computer
knows no bounds!’
GM (as Scott-B): The person trying to act the most
loyal is the person with something to hide. You have
been assigned one flag for suspiciously acting not
suspicious. Isn’t that great?
Emily: But... last time, the player got rewarded!
GM (as Scott-B): You are not wrong. On a related
note, I am too busy thinking about your mission to
care about that! What fun!
You get to continue this mission until the backlog
of unsentenced traitors is gone. That’s great, right?
Until then, I will be key-ping score. You must direct
all traitors sent into your temporary sentencing facility
through one of the three exit doors. I’m so confident in
your team’s capability that I won’t bring up corrections
should you fail miserably. I’m 100% sure this team will
reach this objective quickly and safely, and like I said,
I am so happy to be here as your briefing officer! Now,
do we have Mandatory Bonus Duties yet?
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
If the players have none, Scott-B will carelessly assign
MBDs to all Troubleshooters to get it over with.
Mandatory Bonus Duties are found on page 14.
Be sure to give one to each Troubleshooter,
as who would hate getting responsibilities
but no authority to fulfil them? Also, be
ready to explain to the players what each
duty means. Emphasise how players can get
Troubleshooters in trouble by ratting them out
if they fail at their MBD. Remember, it is always
best to have players do your dirty work for you.
If you need any help in there, please send me a
Coretech message. If I’m not busy, I’ll come in
and offer assistance. We are here to help you help
yourselves! Now, before we officially begin the
mission, do you have anything you need? What can I
bring you to help the mission succeed?
Before anyone can bring anything up, Scott-B orders
the team to enter MGP-SN28AF and wait for the first
traitor. Then he walks away.
At this point, GMs should tell players to write down the
mission objective: Send all traitors coming into the
room through one of the three exit doors. Players
will vote in debriefing on who helped the most with this
objective, so be sure to remind players about that.
Room MGP-SN28AF has one entrance (the one used
by the Troubleshooters) and three exit doors on the
far side of the room. These are labelled Hot Fun, Cold
Fun and Flergle. Red clearance Troubleshooters are
not cleared to sentence traitors; Scott-B had to change
the door signs so Troubleshooters could legally do
this mission. No one will ever explain which door is
which, mostly because Scott-B is unconcerned with the
whole shebang. Just between us, they are Summary
Execution, Freedom and Interrogation respectively.
117
 Besides the doors, here is what is in the room:
○ A black, moulded-plastic chair that can hold about
70 kilograms of weight before collapsing into a pile
of razor-sharp pieces of plastic. No one ever has
to use it but anyone weighing more than ~150 lbs.
will break it and take at least a Hurt wound.
○ One red and one green light are installed above
the three exit doors. All are currently dark.
○ Two sets of fluorescent ceiling lights protected by
a metal mesh. They can be broken but they are a
fun tool for GMs to get whatever they need at that
moment. Need darkness? The lights stopped working.
Need light? Hey, they came back on by themselves!
○ A security camera in one corner. It has green and
red lights atop it, both of which are dark as well. This
camera broke during the Project Infinite Hole kerfuffle
and no one has fixed it yet – until the GM needs it
working, in which case only the lights are broken.
○ Because things are still being renovated and
repaired as part of the Great Hotfix, the walls
have a fresh coat of grey paint with a crimson
stripe running across the centre. Also, the floor is
uneven and there is a spot next to the entrance
door that bends ominously under a clone’s weight.
(It only breaks if you remember it is there and it
would make people laugh.)
○ A rectangular plastic box labelled
‘9780874310252’ sits amid some shattered and
scorched floor tiles, wisps of plastic smoke still
drifting up from the scarred box.
Experimental means two things here: 1) the
Success/Treason effects are bigger than
normal and 2) the devices tend to be weirder
and easier to screw up. If players damage or
lose any of them, be sure to note that on your
GM Sheet so you can get them in serious
trouble during debriefing for destroying
assigned property – assuming the other
players’ idea of fun is tattling on a teammate.
FarFly Turbo JetPack (Lvl 3 Yellow): S: Fly in one
direction very fast without hitting anything. | T: Feet
got caught in the intake and you flew right into a wall;
Maimed and -3 Moxie.
R&D was given a broken Pre-Whoops jetpack and asked
to recreate it but the only thing they understood was
the word jet. That is why this is a single turbojet engine
connected to a metal harness. When worn, the user
can control it through their Coretech. The problem? The
top speed is 800kph and this is an underground city, so
flying might be changed to zooming through corridors
and hoping upcoming doors are open.

Because the backlog of traitors is growing rapidly,

there was no time for normal outfitting. Instead, R&D
ran a few predictive models to determine what the
Troubleshooters would likely need. ‘Doesn’t matter,
they fail’ kept showing up, so they grabbed three
random items that were within reach, labelled them
as experimental equipment and crammed them in
this box. Because this is assigned equipment, the
Troubleshooters are cleared to use these despite the
security clearance restrictions. You might need to let
players know that but maybe after at least one has
been terminated for security clearance violations.

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RelaxAttacks Calming Squeeze Ball (Lvl 1 Red): S:
Human target acts like they took thymoblandin: +1
success for staying calm and all Moxie costs reduced
by 1. | T: Target got dosed with thymoglandin instead
and immediately attacks whoever gave the ball to
them; +1 success for all Violence rolls until dead.
This regular squishy stress ball should have been filled
with thymoblandin, a drug absorbed through the skin
that induces calm and relaxation. PLC ran low on that
prescription when filling the balls, so they added some
thymoglandin as well – which is a combat drug that
makes soldiers more aggressive and less worried about
their own life.
Blue Laser Pistol (Lvl 2 Blue): S: Wound a character
with Green armour or less | T: Battery died and cannot
fire again until recharged.
Yes, your standard laser pistol but at Blue clearance
(and Blue power levels). The shooter must have
Blue clearance at least or it will not fire, although
Red Troubleshooters could ask The Computer for
a temporary exemption. There are no flashy effects
since it is just a laser pistol. Remember that Red reflec
is as effective against Blue lasers as biscuits are
against a firehose full of hydrochloric acid on full blast.
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Here is how this scene works.
○ Start by telling the players they have time to
figure out how to approach this mission. Let
them debate while you take a bathroom break.
○ When they seem to be close to settling on a plan
but before they all agree on it, send in the first
traitor to be sentenced. If any player complains
and says you lied about how much time they
have, simply smile wide and assign a Wanted
flag to their character.
○ For the first traitor in this rather odd parade, look
to their Plans and Quirks to decide how to
roleplay the NPC. For example, when Grace-B-
RLS shows up, she will use her Clone Empathy
power to get the Troubleshooters to fight each
other and then try to escape. (How can a GM
know if the power works? If it helps the players
enjoy the game, do it. Just remember players hate
it when GMs take over their characters, so either
give them a note or pull them aside and tell them
to roleplay being under its influence.)
○ Give the players five in-game minutes (which is
not the same as five IRL minutes but it can be)
to decide whether Grace-B should be sent
through the Hot Fun, Cold Fun or Flergle exit
doors. Let the players argue, fight and generally
waste time over this. But never let them know
what those doors lead to!
○ After those five minutes are up, look at the
remaining traitors. Pick one that could cause
conflict if they show up next. Grace-B is from
Armed Forces and they hate IntSec, so send in
Shivani-B-GLB since he is Internal Security. Now
the team has to deal with two arrested citizens
who want to murder each other before The
Computer can do it.
○ Do not worry about how backlogged things
get. If the team screws things up so badly that all
eight traitors are in the same room at the same
time, that sounds like a them problem.
○ And once a traitor goes through one of the doors,
that is all she wrote. No coming back through
the door, no ‘oops wrong door’ moments or
anything similar. Right or wrong, they have been
sentenced by the team as soon as they walk
through the doorway and that is final.
What happens if a Troubleshooter takes a gander
through an exit door? The Computer does not take
kindly to citizens who peek behind the curtain,
so It will immediately run a classic episode of the
reality show Commies On The Corner! through their
Coretech before the Troubleshooter can see or hear
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 anything. This lasts for two rounds after they shut the
door, so be sure to tell the other players not to mess
with this one just because they are blind and helpless.
During that time, GMs should ask that player to come
up with the episode’s plot and very special message.
Why? You’d be surprised how often players come up
with stuff more twisted and dark than you would ever
go. Let the player indulge in their creativity but since
this puts them on the spot, be ready to skip it if the
chosen player is not feeling very creative. And what
happens if a Troubleshooter gets shoved through an
exit door and the door is closed? Just send in their
replacement clone already.
During this scene, remind players to
consider their two buttons, Violence and
Treason. If a player roleplays it well AND it
makes sense (i.e. the button was ‘pressed’
by something in the game), they earn 2
Moxie. But if you tell the player a button
gets pressed, they do not earn anything but
still have to roleplay it. For how long? Until
it stops being entertaining or you forget
about it because holy crap do players send
lots of hard-to-read notes.
GMs can also bleed some Moxie from the
Troubleshooters when they face combat or
similar very stressful conditions. While this
game does not include any sanity mechanic,
Moxie represents their mental state. Facing
something very stressful can cost 1–2 Moxie
just by being there.
The lights above the door are technically so
Troubleshooters know if they made a good sentencing
decision (green light) or a spectacularly bad one (red
light). Want to do something fun? Well, fun for GMs
anyway? Use the players’ cleverness against them by
giving them a pattern and then destroying it. If they send
a traitor clearly deserving termination through the Hot
Fun door and the green light turns on, players will think,
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‘Stupid GM, I figured out your dumb puzzle!’ When they
send the next termination-deserving traitor through the
Hot Fun door, the red light turns on. Fear and ignorance
are what sets Paranoia apart from other RPGs!
Below are the eight traitors, one per service group in
Alpha Complex. Each comes with their own Plans and
the GM should use this to help decide how to roleplay
the traitor. Of course, GMs should ignore our sage
advice if something else works. I mean, what do we
know? We are only Famous Game Designers who
took too much Adderall.
Again, you must make sure one of these traitors
belongs to one player’s secret societies. Truth is
slippery in Alpha Complex, but fear-induced panic
over seeing a traitorous friend who could cut a deal by
outing you is crystal clear. Thanks to that panic, each
Troubleshooter loses 1 Moxie as soon as they notice
a secret society friend is next to be sentenced – but
communicate that discreetly! If you say it openly,
everyone will know that player’s secret society way
too easily. They need to work for that!
If the game is running long, here is a quick and fun
way to wrap up this scene.
The entrance door opens again but this time it stays
open. A skinny Green clearance citizen with a shaved
head comes in carrying a small cooler. ‘Which one of
youse is da Team Leader what leads da team?’
She will give the cooler to whoever says they are the
leader. Inside are bloody human ears, two for each
traitor not sentenced. The team took too long, so the
backup plan was activated: Hire a hitman to kill the
remaining traitors so they can close the Emergency
Sentencing Facility and go somewhere more
enjoyable. Go ahead and skip to 3. Did They Guess
Right? below.
7 of 8 traitors have higher security clearances
than the Troubleshooters. Does that mean
they can boss the Reds around? No,
because they have been arrested. Would the
Troubleshooters know this? Unsure, because
they are not very sharp. Never directly answer
this question! Keeping it vague makes the
players more paranoid and increases the odds
they will do something amazing.
 Grace-B-RLS-5, Vulture Squadron Warrior (Armed Forces)
‘Listen up, maggot. Your teammate there is all WOPA and I can tell she wants to KYH until you’re DAOFTC!
You gonna take that or stand up and be a real clone?’

○ Basics: Armed Forces, Player 1’s secret society,

Clone Empathy.
○ Looks: Dark hair; grey combat goggles; several rifles.
○ Quirks: Stares hard in the eyes of anyone she talks
to; keeps using made-up acronyms that mean nothing.
○ Plans: Use Clone Empathy to convince Troubleshooters
to attack each other, then escape in the chaos.
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Abuse of public trust, aggravated mockery.

(Called several IntSec agents ‘a bunch of lazy, good-for-
nothing, one-eyed scrubots’, so IntSec wanted to send a
message by having Grace-B arrested and terminated.)
○ Door they should go through: Hot Fun
(termination).

Vulture Squadron is the military’s special forces. They

are called upon whenever the enemy is considered
dangerous for real and their training exercises leave
many people dead (sometimes even their own). Just do
not call them a Vulture – they demand the term Vulture
Squadron Warrior and by demand, we mean they will
murder citizens who do not.

Combat will likely happen sometime in this

scene. Initiative goes by security clearance,
but players can take a -1 NODE penalty
to bump up to the next higher clearance
initiative (up to -5). Remind players of
this so they take riskier rolls that lead to
mayhem and replacement clones. Be sure
to add the equipment’s level to the NODE
and look for Success/Treason effects to
apply. And remind players of service group
and secret society’s favours in case things
go south real quick.

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 Oscar-Y-VRN-4: Yellowpants (CPU)
‘Um, actually the term is regardless and not irregardless. See? Now you can use the right one on that genocide
pre-authorisation form. You’re welcome!’

○ Basics: CPU, Player 2’s secret society,

Hypersenses.
○ Looks: Dishevelled suit with a goldenrod-
coloured tie; hair is combed and greased back
with ruler-like precision.
○ Quirks: Corrects people’s grammar and thinks
that is helpful; starts most sentences with,
‘Um, actually...’
○ Plans: Measure and improve the efficiency of
the emergency sentencing process (even if that
means his death).
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Failure to disclose treason, perfidious

walking. (Folks over at Technical Services hate
him and had him arrested for ‘trying to create
service firms’, whatever those are.)
○ Door they should go through: Cold Fun
(interrogation).

Oscar-Y is a Yellowpants (nickname for a CPU

efficiency auditor) and one that everyone in CPU
loves and everyone else hates for the same reason:
He’s good at his job. No one likes a smarty (yellow)
pants. Oscar-Y is also so self-absorbed that he thinks
this is all an exercise to test his ability to improve
workplace efficiency, so that is what he will do until
shoved through an exit door.

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 Luiz-Y-MRF-2: Happiness Hymn Singer (HPD&MC)
‘Youuuuu PHIListines caaaaan SHUUUUT IT! Figaro, figaro, magnifico-o-o-o!’’

○ Basics: HPD&MC, Player 3’s secret

society, Mental Blast.
○ Looks: Average height but oddly wide;
wears formal dress with a yellow bow
tie, smells like Hot Fun for some reason.
○ Quirks: Only speaks in operatic
singing; only listens to people who sing
operatically to him.
○ Plans: Lead the team in one last
hymn and escape while they are busy
singing.
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Unlawful lyrics, trespassing

with intent to sing, inciting riots. (CPU
hired him to sing I Am The Botbot at a
corporate retreat. Then they convinced
Friend Computer to make that song
illegal and invited IntSec to listen.)
○ Door they should go through: Cold
Fun (interrogation).

Luiz-Y has an epic singing voice and is

convinced his talent will disappear if he
ever stops singing. In the room, Luiz-Y tries
to lead the team in a rousing rendition of
Happiness Hymn #007, Relax (And Do Your
Job). That song is also illegal but this time
Luiz-Y does it on purpose. He hopes the
chaos of singing banned lyrics can either
get them all arrested or at least distract the
Troubleshooters. Either way, he plans on
fleeing through the Flergle door.

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 Shivani-B-GLB-2: Blue Trooper (IntSec)
‘Name’s Shivani-B, Internal Security trooper with over 500 confirmed arrests and 2,400 confirmed terminations,
yeah? You are beneath me and you’re all under arrest, yeah?’

○ Basics: IntSec, Player 4’s secret society,

Force Field.
○ Looks: Missing right arm; reflective orange
sunglasses; always looks like he is that close to
losing it.
○ Quirks: Puts ‘yeah’ at the end of almost every
sentence; speaks more with his hand than with
words.
○ Plans: Arrest all the Troubleshooters before they
can sentence him; use Force Field to stay safe
and stop from being dragged through an exit door.
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Breach of contract, assault with intent

to assault some more. (Nothing really but he did
give a ticket to an Indigo clearance Lieutenant
General just before Project Infinite Hole began,
so that is why he is here.)
○ Door they should go through: Hot Fun
(termination).

Armed Forces hates IntSec, so when Lt. Gen. Beth-

V-GHA got a ticket for going 210kph in a 40kph
zone, she made sure to learn the agent’s name. In
the room, Shivani-B will start using this Force Field
mutant power to protect herself. Then he will try
to intimidate and/or con the Troubleshooters into
believing he is not a traitor and is actually here to
arrest the Troubleshooters.

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 Savannah-G-HRH-3: Hazmat handler (Power Services)
‘All I know is the fire alarm will go off soon... I said, the fire alarm will... ah, the warning klaxon sounds!
Too bad I have to go outside now instead of through an exit door.’

○ Basics: PowerServ, Player 5’s secret

society, Pyrokinesis.
○ Looks: Naturally 2.2 metres (7’-ish) tall, no hair
anywhere (not even eyebrows).
○ Quirks: Prefers to stand over by the entrance
door; smells faintly of ammonia.
○ Plans: Light enough fires with Pyrokinesis that
the fire alarm goes off and she can slip away
in the chaos; blame 1 - 2 Troubleshooters for
having Pyrokinesis so they leave her alone.
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Possession of barely controlled

substances, Outdoors monster smuggling,
use of unapproved metaphors. (She approved
replacing TechServ batteries with PowerServ
batteries in MGP Sector’s vendabots and
TechServ took offence at that. In Savannah-G’s
defence, TechServ takes offence at everything
PowerServ does.)
○ Door they should go through: Cold Fun
(interrogation).
Power Services and Technical Services hate each
other and they often fight over who is responsible
for the lucrative battery market (batteries are
made by Technical Services but charged by Power
Services, so they both claim ownership). In the room,
Savannah-G will openly use her Pyrokinesis to light
Troubleshooters on fire and escape through the
entrance door as alarms ring and Troubleshooters go
up in smoke.

Taisha-B-WAL-2: Coretech coder (R&D)

‘Now listen ta me, citizen. Do ya have Mallard clearance like me? That’s what I thought. Go do what I told ya ta do
already before I demote you.’

○ Basics: R&D, any irritating player’s society,

Adrenalin Control.
○ Looks: Pencil-thin moustache; purple-ish
bruises on hands and arms; cauliflower ears.
○ Quirks: Believes he really has Mallard
clearance (whatever that is); talks so softly
that it is hard to hear him.
○ Plans: Activate his shoe bomb to blow up the
entire room and all inside, including him.
○ Gear: Shoe bomb.

○ Treason: Boticide, cloneslaughter, mutiny,

procurement of drugs under false pretences.
(Reassigned a PLC shipment of bot parts
to his R&D lab and forgot to remove his
Coretech IP address from the new orders.)
○ Door they should go through: Cold Fun
(interrogation).
As with Robbie-GOL above, Taisha-B believes
he is a dead man walking. You do not get caught
stealing from PLC and then survive interrogation.
That is why he has a shoe bomb; his left boot has
enough Semtex to blow up the room and everyone
in it. It will take Taisha-B two rounds to activate it,
then it will explode in one round after that.

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 Are the players running through these mini
scenes too quickly? Do they have most
of their clones left? Here is a great way to
solve both problems: Turn out the lights.
There is something about a dark room that
encourages Troubleshooters to start killing
each other, and the Alpha Complex power
grid is about as reliable as a weather forecast
during the apocalypse.

Robbie-GOL-4: Food vat worker (PLC)

‘Sigh. Boss says being arrested is not an excuse for missing
algae bloom quotas. Please kill me so I can get back to
work. Pretty please with algae blooms on top?’

○ Basics: PLC, Player 5’s secret society,

Machine Empathy.
○ Looks: Body like an Olympic weightlifter, wears
black t-shirts and pants that are two sizes too small.
○ Quirks: Resigned to his death and keeps
saying, ‘I do gooder next time.’; tries to figure
out which exit door leads to termination.
○ Plans: Try to die so his next clone can get back
to work already – and fail because his Machine
Empathy power means Friend Computer keeps
interrupting to save him from termination.
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Resisting arrest. (Eric is honestly

innocent and loyal but someone at IntSec had
an arrest quota to meet.)
○ Door they should go through: Flergle
(freedom).

Robbie is an Infrared worker, hence lacking any

‘middle initial’. Definitely loyal, Robbie knows the
longer he stays here, the more work piles up back at
the factory. Not only has he come to terms with his
pending death, he is looking forward to the fresh start
of a new clone. He will encourage the team to send
him for termination. However, he has the Machine
Empathy mutation, so whenever the team puts him
at risk, The Computer’s DING precedes orders to not
let Robbie die no matter what. That is why the correct
door for Robbie is Flergle (freedom).

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 Bill: If this doofus won’t go through the door willingly, Saul: Bill said he wanted to kill this Infrared!
I’ll throw him through like a hero! I’ll roll Violence +
Throw. Bill: Shut your pie hole!

GM: No you won’t. I set Stat + Skill combos. Besides,
as you grab Robbie and bring him closer to the door,
you hear the DING.
Bill: Crap, uh, hi Friend Computer! What can I do you
for?
GM (as The Computer): Attention Troubleshooters. Why
are you punishing one of the most loyal and attractive
clones in all of Alpha Complex? Please send him through
the door that leads to his well-deserved freedom.
GM (as The Computer): Please do not make me ask
a second time or you will never hear a third time.
Bill: But our briefing officer never told us what the
doors mean!
GM (as The Computer): Processing... Are you
admitting that you have been randomly sentencing
traitors instead of following orders and assigning
correct sentences?
Saul: Don’t forget that he wanted to kill the Infrared!

Finn-Y-COS-5: Bot repairman (Tech Services)

‘Oh, you are not getting to that escalator before me! I got to watch Teela-O’s appearance on Right Side of
History tonight!!’

○ Basics: Technical Services, any late player’s

society, Telepathy.
○ Looks: Tall and thin; ponytail and shaved face;
wears a baggy Yellow jumpsuit with burn marks
across the back.
○ Quirks: Obsessive Teela-O fanboy; views
everything as a competition that he must win.
○ Plans: Use Telepathy to secretly offer 100 XP
Point bribes to Troubleshooters who force one
of their own through an exit door in his place.
○ Gear: None.

○ Treason: Sending prohibited memes by post,

wanton or furious driving. (Openly mocked
Power Services’ Liquid Hot Magma reactors for
not being real reactors.)
○ Door they should go through: Hot Fun
(termination).

For this traitor, the GM should either send

texts, write notes or pull each player aside to
communicate Finn-Y’s telepathic message as
soon as he arrives: ‘The Computer cannot read
our thoughts. I will give you 100 XP Points if you
send in the teammate you hate most through the
door in my place.’ He means 100 XP Points for the
team, not for each Troubleshooter. Hope no one
misunderstands him.

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 3. Did They Guess Right?
Once the last traitor is sentenced, let the team sit
in the room for a while with nothing happening. It is
always amusing to see how many deaths are created
when players get bored. Once the players get some
things out of their systems, in walks Scott-B-PLT to
conduct their mission debriefing:
○ He starts by saying how wonderful it has been
being their briefing and now debriefing officer.
○ Then he asks if anyone figured out what was
behind the doors. Any Troubleshooter stupid
enough to say yes gets +1 flag.
○ Lastly, he examines the mission objective (see the
GM Sheet for more details). If the team failed to
meet this, all Troubleshooters lose 100 XP points
and gain 1 flag apiece.
For some strange reason, all briefing officers are prescribed anti-anxiety meds.
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Scott-B will ask the team to vote openly on which
Troubleshooter deserves the most credit for meeting
the mission objective. That lucky clone receives +100
XP Points, +1 Moxie, -1 flag and +1 clone. Those not
voted receive nothing but shame and sadness.
During debriefing, GMs award Upgrade
Points (see page 26) based on
Troubleshooter performance. This includes
the Troubleshooter of the Weekcycle award.
Once you are done voting for the objectives,
vote next on the Weekcycle award. Then
dole out UPs as needed. And if this is just a
one-shot, have them vote on Troubleshooter
of the Weekcycle anyway. It is great fun
to watch people fight viciously over an
imaginary award.
 Explain this to the players so they turn on each
other like hungry, rabid dogs. If they do not, you can
jumpstart that by asking them to vote on the worst
Troubleshooter, who receives a brand-new, shiny
summary execution right then and there. Once all
voting has finished and there is no more laser fire,
Scott-B sends the team outside to the small square.
There is one last surprise waiting for them near the
Funbot statue. Each traitor they sent through the Hot
Fun (termination) door is standing side-by-side waiting
for the Troubleshooters. Remember, most if not all
will be on new clones and still have higher security
clearances. GMs should pick one of these citizens as
their unofficial leader and speak for them.
Anyone who calls The Computer to
complain is... not good. Not only do
these former traitors have higher security
clearances (so more trust), their carefully
chosen words made everything sound loyal
and appropriate. Anyone who calls Big C
gets a flag instead.
‘Hi, citizens! We want to take a moment to thank you!
Your sentencing was correct and efficient, and we bet
The Computer is very pleased with you! We share
that, too! As a way of saying thank you for assigning
capital punishment for our previous clone’s crimes, we
want to offer our protection. When word gets out about
how well you handled this assignment, traitors will be
ready to take revenge by attacking you. I’ll pause here
for your thanks and gratitude.’
Let the players bootlick here. Once they've all said
thanks, the citizen continues.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
‘Great to hear but you know what counts as true
gratitude? XP Points! After all, they’re not money!
They’re a way of thanking others for their hard work,
protecting you lot. Reds like you probably don’t have
much, so how about we cut you a deal and offer
protection for 50 XP Points each weekcycle?
I know that sounds like a lot but can you put a thanks-
based price tag on not being beaten to a pulp by
citizens seeking revenge each and every week? And
why not start today? We need 50 XP Points from each
Troubleshooter so we can start protecting you. From
being attacked. Which could happen very soon.’
Yes, this is a classic protection racket. GMs should
ask each Troubleshooter if they have 50 XP Points
left and whether they will transfer it or not, as this
determines which ending GMs will read out loud:
○ Paid the full 50 XP Points: ‘For those who
paid, you are all resting after your latest mission.
Suddenly, you hear a laser pistol firing! You turn
instinctively to see a citizen crumpled behind you,
their hand still clutching a sharp knife. That guy
from the Funbot square, the one who asked you
to pay protection? You catch a glimpse of him
leaving the room. He locks eyes with you, nods
and smiles before he’s gone. Looks like you made
a new friend!
○ Will not (or cannot) pay: ‘For those who didn’t
pay, you are all resting after your latest mission.
Suddenly, you feel a sharp pain between your ribs!
You fall over bleeding from a stab wound and you
can see a Red clearance citizen running away with
a bloody knife in hand. As you lie dying from blood
loss, remember the guy from earlier that asked
you to pay protection? He kneels next to you and
whispers, ‘You really should have given us the
money.’ Then he walks away.
Yes, the protection racket was not a racket but an honest
offer. What, you thought they were being sarcastic?
THE END
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 cloud.deploy[Export(object)]
object.secret [‘Minor stuff we almost forgot’]
font.family(‘Times New Roman’)
Do[print.title

C h apter)’)]
x (Not a
i
(‘Append

countTreason(video); for (int dna = notStupid) {if (x <= T) terminateAllThoseBastards}

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Finally, Troubleshooter Team Code-7 has reached
debriefing. All Troubleshooters are near their last
clone and they must explain who should be rewarded
or terminated.
GM (as briefing officer Aisha-B): Now that yah
have all finally taken your seats, we will proceed with
debriefing. First, did yah document the damage to
the reactor?
Christi: Sure did! I took care of that.
Jenny: Did you, though? You went to do that but the
rest of us didn’t see the results. Got any proof?
Christi: Yep! <types a note to the GM>
GM (as Aisha-B): This is technically acceptable,
Armand-B. On an unrelated note, I have been
informed that Shara-R betrayed The Computer and
joined a grahp of mutant traitor separatist reactor
workers. Is this true, Shara-R?
Kara (smiling smugly at Christi): That was
Shara-R-2. I am Shara-R-3.
GM (as briefing officer Aisha-B): And Shara-R-2
received the appropriate correction, which was
termination by teammates.
Christi: Dangit.
GM (as Aisha-B): Did yah accomplish the second part
of your objective, identifying the bodies found there?
Brett: Yes we did, O wise and benevolent briefing
officer. I identified some and Beth did too – I mean
Vin-R and Hector-R identified a bunch. We got ‘em all.
jose Bisneto (Order #42083896)
GM (as Aisha-B): And yet, I don’t see information on
the six citizens who attacked yah. Your records are
incomplete, which means they are suspicious, tah.
Brett: But… but… they were alive. Well, when we met
them, anyway. And they didn’t have identification!
GM (as Aisha-B): Look at this Coretech recording.
Yah can clearly see me saying, ‘identify any bodies
found.’ I never said anything about dead bodies.
Wilfully misinterpreting a mission objective earns yah
one Restricted flag. Since your team was only partially
successful, only one of yah will enjoy a spa day: The
Troubleshahhter of the Weekcycle! Now, let’s hear
from each team member, one at a time. Yah will each
vote for which teammate earns Troubleshahter of the
Weekcycle. Yes, Yah can vote for yourself.
LATER, AFTER MUCH DISCUSSION AND
BACKSTABBING…
GM (as Aisha-B): Congratulations, Sam-R-JNS-4! As
yah received more votes than anyone else – a total of
tah – you are the Troubleshahter of the Weekcycle!’
GM: OK, everybody, this is a good time to give out
Upgrade Points. Since all of you made it to debriefing
and you accomplished at least one mission objective...
Christi: Thanks to me.
GM: ... Thanks to Christi, you each get 2 Upgrade
Points. You can spend these to upgrade your
Troubleshooter. And as Troubleshooter of the
Weekcycle, Sam-R gets a third UP.
Brett: Sweet! I can afford to improve one of my stats!
Beth: Or maybe add three to your Guns skill? Did you
even hit anything on this mission?
Brett: Yeah, I shot Naomi-R in the baaaaand no, I did
not shoot anyone.
133
 CONVERTING RCE CONTENT
TO THE NEW PARANOIA
Because Paranoia is closer to an RCE (Red
Clearance Edition) revision than a brand-new
replacement, it is relatively easy to use RCE content
with the new Paranoia. GMs can always just wing it,
especially since the players cannot complain about
rules without having to roll up a new character. But for
those who want a little more structure, here is how to
convert RCE stuff to the new Paranoia.
Unchanged
First, here is a list of things that did not change:
○ Stats, Skills and their ratings: These represent
the same things, so Bluff still means Bluff.
○ Clone and Loyalty: All Troubleshooters start on
clone #1 and with no Treason Stars (or flags).
○ The core rules about NODEs. Anything that
impacts NODEs in an RCE mission still affects
NODEs the same way in the new Paranoia.
○ Wounds and Health Boxes: The new Paranoia
still has four wounds and a number of NPC health
boxes and they work the same in RCE and the
new Paranoia.
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○ Treason Stars: These are the same; they are just
organised into flags. If the RCE text says assign a
Treason Star, GMs should assign a Treason Star
(and let the player check off the right flag box).
○ GMs still do not roll: As with RCE, the new
Paranoia GMs still look to failed player rolls to
decide when they get hit. (For GMs who really
want to roll dice, look for the alternative rules in
the Accomplice Book.)
Also, RCE content is very useful for setting ideas
since many are not tied to specific rules. For example,
all the Plug-n-Plays for random locations (like for
Underplex locations in RCE’s Acute Paranoia) work in
both editions the same way.
Converting Troubleshooters
Character creation is a little different between the
two editions since the character sheets are different.
That said, either system can be used to make some
Troubleshooters to kill off with some simple changes:
○ Use the new character sheet: Fine, that should
have been obvious but we do not know how sober
everyone is.
○ No need for gender: If no one in Alpha Complex
cares, why should we? Skip it.
○ Service groups: In the new Paranoia, all
Troubleshooters are assigned a service group.
GMs will need to add these.
○ Buttons replace Adjectives: For the three
personality adjectives, either just ditch ‘em or
see how they can be translated into Violence and
Treason buttons. If one adjective is bitter, what are
they bitter about?
○ Guns +2: All Troubleshooters in the new Paranoia
start with the Guns Skill at +2.
○ Starting Moxie and XP Points: Both editions give
8 Moxie to new Troubleshooters. But in RCE, they
start with 0 XP Points. In the new , start ‘em with
200 XP Points so they have some for you to steal.
○ Assigned and Treasonous gear: In RCE,
there is only one kind of equipment. In the new
Paranoia, this is split into assigned gear (either
given by Friend Computer or bought with XP
Points) and treasonous gear (stuff that is illegal for
Troubleshooters to have). This should be pretty
clear how to divide stuff up.
○ Secret objective: RCE featured secret society
missions. In the new Paranoia, these are included
as secret objectives to write on the character
sheet. There is not much conversion needed here.
 And that’s about it. The rest are all in both editions:
Stats, Skills, Treason Stars, XP Points, Moxie and
Wounds all stay the same.(there are new ways to
spend Moxie but this does not affect character stats).
The new Paranoia adds a few things like flags and
favours but these should not impact any RCE content.
Converting NPCs
NPC stats changed a lot between these editions but
there are no mechanical changes, so these need just a
little TLC before fitting into the new Paranoia missions:
○ NPC stats: RCE’s NPCs have some data like
name, some important Skills and health boxes. In
the new Paranoia, the Skills have been dropped
since GMs do not roll. Instead, there is more data
in the form of Looks, Plans, Quirks and so on. We
recommend updating RCE mission NPCs to the
new data because it is more helpful. That said,
you can definitely ignore this and just make stuff
up as you go along.
○ NPC Basics: GMs can also use the three tables
in character creation (see page 20) to quickly
pick the Basics for an NPC: Service group, secret
society and mutant power.
What To Do With Cards
Okay, let us be real here. Adding cards to RCE was
somewhat controversial; some loved ‘em while others
could not stand ‘em. So here is our Official Famous
Game Designer Wisdom for what to do with RCE’s
cards: If you like the cards, use them. Seriously, if your
gaming group really enjoys the Action cards and all
that, you can add them to any new Paranoia mission.
Initiative would be different but there is nothing within
the new Paranoia's rules that would interfere with using
cards from RCE.
For those who do not want to use the cards as RCE does,
here are some suggestions for modifying things for the
new Paranoia.
○ Action cards: Either skip these entirely or hand
them out as ideas and inspiration for proper
Paranoia hijinks. This can especially help players
new to the game.
○ Bot cards (from Acute Paranoia): The new
Paranoia does not (yet) have rules for playing bot
characters but the ones in Acute Paranoia can be
ported pretty easily. Use Bot Cards if you allow
this and skip them if you do not.
○ Bestiary cards (from Acute Paranoia): Can
be used for random encounters in the Outdoors.
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These cards include difficulty and defence stats,
which GMs can use or ignore as is their wont.
○ Mutant power Secret Society and MBD cards:
Players can use these as reminders of what is on
their character sheet if needed but these have no
use in the new Paranoia and can be set aside.
○ Equipment cards: Compare these items with the
current equipment list (see page 37) to see if there
were any tweaks to the numbers. Ignore the Action
Order size but add the Level to NODEs like normal.
○ Number One card: If your group uses it, then use
it! If not, then there is nothing to see here.
Converting Other Rules
Again, the core mechanic of building a d6 dice pool
(NODE) and rolling successes against a difficulty
number has not changed. (Alhough we got lazy and
started calling it DIFF.)
○ Initiative: Anything that affects Action Orders
should be halved (min 1) and then used to modify
the security clearance level. (-2 Action Order
means go at -1 clearance so Reds go at Infrared;
+4 Action Order means go at Yellow; and so on.)
○ Hitting the DIFF: If you roll for combat and hit the
difficulty number exactly (i.e. number of successes
matches the DIFF), you cause a Hurt. (That was
unclear in RCE, so we are clarifying it now.)
○ Armour: This has been settled once and for all;
armour in Paranoia removes one success from a
hit’s roll per level after the roll was made. (Ex: Red
reflec has Lvl 1, so an attack with 2 successes loses
1 and ends up causing a Hurt – unless the attack
was done with an Orange or better laser pistol.)
○ Character advancement: Ignore spending XP
Points for improving stats or skills and replace that
with Upgrade Points (see page 26).
○ Losing It: When and how a Troubleshooter Loses
It has not changed; the only difference in the
new Paranoia is using a character’s buttons to
help decide what happens upon Losing it. When
a Troubleshooter’s next clone comes back after
Losing It, they have 4 Moxie like normal for a
replacement clone.
○ Equipment effects: In RCE, only R&D
experimental devices had Success and Treason
effects. In the new Paranoia, all equipment has
them. If the item is included in the new Paranoia,
use that. If not, either make up some reasonable
effects for success and failure treason or ask the
player before they roll what they would consider a
success. Use that for the success effect and the
polar opposite for the treason one.
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 Converting Missions
For the most part, RCE missions can be easily run in
the new Paranoia since the two editions are not that
far apart. That said, there are a few things GMs can
do to smooth the transition:
○ Mission objectives: GMs will need to create
mission objectives (one for each section) but
these are just what the Troubleshooters should
officially do in that section. Example: For the
RCE mission Filling an Infinite Hole, section
1’s objective could be, Reach the briefing room
and get R&D experimental gear. (If reaching the
briefing room seems too easy for an objective, talk
to some older Paranoia players.)
○ Secret societies: The new Paranoia has more
secret societies and a few RCE ones were left
out. GMs might need to adjust plots and NPCs
accordingly (i.e. slap some other society over the
one that is missing and move on with your life).
The new Paranoia’s secret societies were all
impacted by Project Infinite Hole and the Great
Hotfix but not so much that RCE’s society plots
would need to be changed.
○ Secret objectives: If an RCE mission has secret
society missions, then those are perfect for picking
a secret society objective. If not, GMs will need
to add one based on what the society would want
from the mission. Remember, a Troubleshooter
can have multiple mission objectives but just one
secret objective.
○ Achievements: RCE missions included a
list of benchmarks and XP Point bonuses to
Troubleshooters to reach them. These have been
removed so players stay focused on the mission
objective. GMs can definitely add Achievements
to the new Paranoia missions; all you need to do
is write them, give each an XP Point bonus and
share these with the players during briefing. (Or
not if they are acting like fools.)

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 RULES and SETTING CHEAT SHEETS
Paranoia Rules Cheat Sheet
○ Core Mechanic: D6 dice pool, roll 5s or 6s for successes. You succeed if you meet or beat that difficulty
number (DIFF) set by the GM.
○ NODE is how many d6s you will roll. This is set by (Stat + Skill + Equipment Level + Computer Dice). The GM
decides which Stats/Skills are relevant. You always roll the Computer Dice. Always.
○ If your NODE is negative, you still roll that many dice (NODE -3 means rolling 3d6). But each failed dice (1–4)
cancels out one successful dice (5–6). If the NODE is zero, roll just the Computer Dice.
○ If the Computer symbol shows on the Computer Dice, this is still a success but The Computer suddenly pays
attention to that Troubleshooter and everything (and everyone) nearby.

GM Fiat: Unlike other RPGs, a Paranoia GM can ignore, change or mutilate any game rule at any time.

Moxie: Metagame resource. You earn them by roleplaying your character’s buttons and/or through the whims of an
occasionally benevolent GM. You can spend them four ways and each costs 1–5 Moxie (more means bigger results):
Change one dice per Moxie in anyone’s roll from success to failure (or failure to success).
Use your mutant power (remember, mutations are treason so hide its use whenever possible).
Call in a favour from your service group. (Players explain the favour; GM approves/disapproves).
Call in a treasonous favour from your secret society. (Players explain the favour again).

If you run out of Moxie, you Lose It and go temporarily insane and act out one of your buttons (GM choice).

Buttons: When something presses your buttons and you cannot resist committing treason or violence. You earn 2
Moxie for roleplaying these voluntarily but the GM can push these at any time.

Treason Stars and Flags: If you get caught being bad, you can earn Treason Stars that create ‘social wounds’
called flags. Getting 5 stars means you’re Most Wanted and anyone can kill you for prizes. Each flag increases
your chances of rolling the Computer symbol. When rolled, The Computer pays attention to the entire scene.

XP Points: A social credit system that replaces currency but acts just like it. Can be used by GMs as rewards.

Initiative: The Computer always goes first, followed by citizens in clearance order – Ultraviolets, then Violets, then
Indigos, etc. Within a clearance all citizens go simultaneously. You can bump your initiative to a higher level by taking a
-1 NODE penalty for being recklessly fast (up to -5 NODE for the max five bumps). The GM can let NPCs go whenever.

Combat:
○ Attacking requires the same core mechanic: Determine your NODE and roll.
○ GM can impose NODE penalties for distance, movement, complaining, etc.
○ Dodging attacks are only possible if you go before someone (no one can dodge a laser).

Wounds
○ All characters have five wound levels: Fine, Hurt, Injured, Maimed and Dead. An attack roll that hits the
difficulty exactly causes a Hurt. Each extra success increases the wound’s severity (Hurt to Injured).
○ Hurt = -1 Node; Injured = -2 Node; Maimed = -3 Node. All last until healed or a new clone arrives.
○ If a wound box is already checked, take the next highest wound with an unchecked box. (If Hurt and Injured are
checked and they get another Hurt wound, they are now Maimed.)
○ Armour levels subtract that many successes from a roll (Armour 2 = -2 successes).

Reminder: Paranoia features backstabbing, TPKs and Catch-22s. Don’t get mad, get even!

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 Paranoia Setting Cheat Sheet
Theme: Paranoia is a darkly humorous science fiction game set in a future dystopia. Unlike other RPGs, this one
encourages PCs to fight and even kill each other (players get six clones so they can keep playing). Expect to face
Catch-22s, violent scenes and jokes about death, destruction and other cheery topics.
Alpha Complex: A gigantic city built underground and
beneath a giant dome that houses everyone. This is
home to the PCs, and they will be sent on missions to
protect Alpha Complex and all who live there. Nature
is seen as incredibly dangerous and most people
live their whole lives inside the rooms, corridors and
buildings of this city.
The Computer: Sentient AI that runs Alpha Complex
like a digital dictator. The AI wants humanity to be happy
and safe but It is literally paranoid and a bit insane. It
assumes Communists, mutants with super powers and
other traitors are out to destroy It and Alpha Complex.
Obey The Computer or be executed for treason.
Security Clearances: Society is split into security
clearances named after the colour spectrum: Infrared
(lowest of the low), Red (the PCs), Orange, Green,
Blue, Indigo, Violet and lastly Ultraviolet (or High
Programmers). You must also obey all citizens with
higher security clearances or be executed for treason.
Note that clearance depends on how much The
Computer trusts you, not merit or talent.
Loyalty vs. Treason: Because Friend Computer is
paranoid, society is obsessed with loyalty and treason.
There is a Salem witch trial/Red Scare vibe to Alpha
Complex as citizens (and the secret police) watch
each other for signs of treason.
Troubleshooters: Random citizens volunteered
by The Computer to find trouble (aka treason) and
shoot it. These are the PCs. Troubleshooters are
used by powerful citizens as pawns in a game.
Citizens publicly praise Troubleshooters because
The Computer is watching; privately they fear
Troubleshooters who are infamous for causing
mayhem, collateral damage and high body counts.
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Clones: All citizens are clones and each has five backups
waiting in storage. When a PC dies, the new clone arrives
with the same equipment and memories as the previous
one (just missing the last five minutes or so).
Service Groups: The Computer organised Alpha
Complex’s economy into service groups: Armed
Forces, CPU, HPD&MC, Internal Security, PLC, Power
Services, R&D and Technical Services. They all hate
each other and fight over dwindling resource supplies.
Mutant Powers: It is illegal for any clone to have a
mutant power like levitation or pyrokinesis. Every PC
has one mutant power, but it is highly treasonous to
be seen using one.
Secret Societies: It is illegal for any clone to belong
to a secret society like Communists or Sierra Club.
Every PC belongs to one secret society, but it is highly
treasonous to talk about or admit belonging to one.
Coretechs: Powerful mini-computers implanted
inside everyone’s brain. Citizens can voice and text
chat with each other with just thoughts and Friend
Computer can see and hear anything you can at any
time. It even uses an augmented reality filter to add
directions, people’s names, etc. to what you see.
XP Points: No citizen has to work and there is no
currency. Instead, Friend Computer assigns people
to volunteer centres (businesses) and their volunteer
work (jobs). They can be spent at centres (stores) or
in black markets.
Reminder: Paranoia features backstabbing, TPKs and
Catch-22s. Don’t get mad, get even!
 APPENDIX N FOR PARANOIA
Love Paranoia? Then you are clever, attractive and full of dark thoughts that are kinda fun. But it can be hard
for people to wrap their head around the more unusual and competitive elements here. There are many media-
inspiration lists online, so rather than repeat all of that, here are some of what we consider the biggest influences
on the game as well as some media inspirations that are not talked about enough. NOTE: The lists below are not
exhaustive, which is a posh way of saying please do not yell at Famous Game Designers if they left something out.
They are easily startled.

The Classics
○ Logan’s Run (VIDEO): Sure, it is an old movie that does not hold up that well. But you can clearly see the
inspiration for Troubleshooters, Alpha Complex, even The Computer right here in glorious 1970s colour.
○ THX-1138 (VIDEO): George Lucas’ first movie was not a hit but the setting is maybe closer to Alpha Complex than
even Logan’s Run. There are even confession booths!
○ 1984 (BOOK, VIDEO): You cannot get more classic Paranoia than Orwell’s masterpiece. Read the book, watch the
movie or do both. It is very dark but it can give you inspiration to make Alpha Complex scarier.
○ Brazil (VIDEO): Possibly Terry Gillam’s best film, it features an Alpha Complex bureaucracy that is both maddening
and inspirational (in the bad way). Want to know how CPU handles things? Give this a watch.
○ Brave New World (BOOK): Another huge inspiration, this features cloning and mandatory happiness. Sound familiar?
Stick with the book; the movie and series are not unwatchable but they seem to miss something.

Other Inspirations
○ Better Off Ted (VIDEO): This is how R&D would be like in Alpha Complex but with more science fiction bits. This
show is also criminally underrated and sarcastic as hell.
○ Cash-N-Guns (GAME): Each round of this game is like a Troubleshooter team on a mission: Chaos, gunfire and
bitter rivalries.
○ Catch-22 (BOOK): A bit long for what it is but this novel literally created the phrase Catch-22 and showcases how
bureaucracy can be weaponised. Also, Milo is totally a Free Enterpriser.
○ The Death of Stalin (VIDEO): This is what happens when an Ultraviolet dies and Violets have to pick up the pieces.
Great at showing how even high clearance citizens struggle with fear, ignorance and paranoia.
○ Ghostbusters (VIDEO): Although it lacks any dystopian vibe, the team’s attempt to save New York is very
reminiscent of a Troubleshooter mission (including things going very badly).
○ Idiocracy (VIDEO): The leaders of this movie’s society are flat-out stupid and make horrible decisions that
could kill millions. That is exactly how Alpha Complex tends to operate since clearances are based on trust, not
talent or knowledge.
○ Judge Dredd (BOOK, VIDEO, GAME): HPD&MC portrays Troubleshooters like Judges: Tough, deadly, well-armed
and saving us all. In other words, this would be Computer-approved propagandatainment.
○ Portal 1 & 2 (GAME): These video games are amazing in their own right. The first showcases the Computer-like
GLaDOS, while the sequel has R&D’s attitude towards scientific advancement in spades.
○ Snowpiercer (VIDEO): The Freeloader/Economy/First Class split in their society is a simplified security clearance
system without the colours. This is good for how Infrareds live and what it would feel like for one of them to visit
higher clearance areas.
○ Werewolf/Mafia (GAME): While not related to Paranoia’s setting at all, these games do an amazing job of building
fear and paranoia into a game. Play a few rounds of these games and watch how they work.

Lastly, if you want great examples of how Paranoia’s comedy looks when it is at its best, watch some of the old
Marx Brothers movies. People are always surprised at how funny these are despite their age but they also show a
great balance between physical comedy, satire and clever wordplay. (And how a pun can work once in a while but
not all the time. Sanity clause, we are looking in your direction.)

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 INDEX
Antimutant........................ 93
Area Effects, Conditions ......... 33
Armed Forces ..................... 84
Armour ........................... 38
A Thanks-Based Economy............ 65
Attacking ........................ 32
Black Markets..................... 66
Blue.............................. 63
Brains: Thinking and having ...... 16
Briefing Officer Scott-B-PLT-3 .... 116
Captain Alpha: ................... 81
Central Processing Unit (CPU)..... 86
Chutzpah.......................... 16
Communists (Commies).............. 94
Computer Programmer (FCCCP)....... 97
Converting Missions.............. 136
Converting NPCs.................. 135
Converting Other Rules........... 135
Converting Troubleshooters....... 134
Coretech Apps..................... 39
Corpore Metal..................... 95
Corrections....................... 46
CPU’s Service Group Table......... 22
Dark Web and Black Markets........ 29
Death Leopard (Leps).............. 96
Defending......................... 33
Difficulty Ratings................. 27
Earning Moxie..................... 30
Earning Upgrade Points............ 26
Enlightened Despotism............. 54
Example of combat................. 35
Example of the Core .............. 28
First Church of Christ ........... 97
for Running Paranoia.............. 54
Free Enterprise................... 98
Funbot............................ 82
GMs Don’t Roll.................... 28
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Grace-B-RLS-5.................... 121
Green............................. 63
Green IntSec Goons............... 113
Haxxor............................ 99
Healing........................... 34
Housing Preservation And Development &
Mind Control (HPD&MC).............. 87
How To Get Things Done............ 66
How to play The Computer ......... 59
Identifiable Information (PII)..... 15
Indigo............................ 64
Infrared.......................... 62
Initiative........................ 32
Intel and Counterintel............ 39
Internal Security (IntSec)........ 88
IntSec’s Secret Society Table..... 22
Learn About Paranoia............... 8
Lenny-R-JRK: ..................... 83
Level and Clearance............... 37
Losing It......................... 31
Luiz-Y-MRF-2..................... 123
Malfeasance Control Devices....... 40
Mechanic in Action................ 28
Mechanics:........................ 16
Miscellaneous Gear................ 40
Mission Background............... 111
Mission Plots.................... 109
Mission Structure................ 108
Moxie............................. 28
Needed to Play................... 111
Notes and Cover Rolls............. 42
Objectives....................... 110
Orange ........................... 63
Oscar-Y-VRN-4.................... 122
Other Inspirations............... 139
Outdoors......................... 104
Playing NPCs...................... 52
 Pointless Rivalry Table........... 84 Top 5 Illegal Song Downloads...... 76
Power Services (PowerServ)........ 89 Top 5 Jokes Banned In Alpha
Pescriptions...................... 40 Complex........................... 78
Pre-Whoops ...................... 104 Top 5 Places IntSec Sends
Production, Logistics ............ 90 Traitors.......................... 79
Psion............................ 100 Top 5 Power Services Power Plant
Purge............................ 101 Types............................. 74
R&D’s Mutant Power Table.......... 23 Top 5 Red clearance PLC Shops..... 72
Red............................... 62 Top 5 Troubleshooter Snacks That
Replacement Clones................ 35 Aren’t Immediately Fatal.......... 77
Research & Design (R&D)........... 91 Treason Stars and Flags........... 45
Robbie-GOL-4 .................... 126 Troubleshooter Roz-R-HYT-6....... 113
Role in Society................... 17 Ultraviolet (High Programmers).... 64
Romantics........................ 102 Unchanged........................ 134
Savannah-G-HRH-3 ................ 125 Underplex........................ 105
Scared Infrared: ................. 81 Using Equipment................... 29
Setting the NODE.................. 27 Violence: Physical activity ...... 17
Shivani-B-GLB-2 ................. 124 Violet............................ 64
Sierra Club (Clubbers)........... 103 Weapons........................... 41
Spending Moxie.................... 30 What does The Computer want? ..... 59
Spending Upgrade Points........... 26 What GMs Should ................... 8
Success and Treason............... 37 What To Do With Cards............ 135
Success vs. Treason Effects....... 29 Wounds ........................... 33
Taisha-B-WAL-2................... 127 Yellow............................ 63
Technical Services (TechServ)..... 92
Teela-O-MLY....................... 80
The 10 Commandments .............. 54
The Classics..................... 139
The Computer Dice................. 27
The Great Hotfix................... 60
The Incredibly Violent Hero....... 81
The Lesson Learner................ 81
The Naughty Side.................. 17
The Pathetic Traitor.............. 83
The Praise Code................... 69
Top 5 Alpha Complex Shows for Red
Clearance......................... 75
Top 5 Approved Jokes in Alpha
Complex........................... 78
Top 5 Approved Song Downloads..... 76
Top 5 Armed Forces Parades in Alpha
Complex........................... 73

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